Electrode Materials in Microfluidic Systems for the Processing and Separation of DNA: A Mini Review

Since the advent of genetic analysis, electrode materials have played an irreplaceable role due to the easily-exploitable negatively-charged backbone of the DNA structure. Initially, the employment of electrophoretic movement lay only in the separation of DNA fragments of differing length; however, the widening utility of electrokinetic phenomena at the microscale in areas such as fluid transportation and multistep integration led researchers to capitalize further when translating processes to microfluidic or “lab-on-chip” devices. Over the following three decades, the field witnessed a plethora of ways in which the necessary voltages could be transmitted to the sample and reagents with many successes; however, additional demands were then placed on those hoping to bring their microdevices to the market place. A greater emphasis on the cost of all constituent parts along with the increased importance that fluidics be contained hermetically at all times meant groups would become more imaginative when incorporating electrode materials. This review will aim to exactly describe the evolution of how those materials have been employed in DNA-based microfluidic devices. It will focus on how developers began to explore other emerging uses and also discuss how their tactics reflected the progressive demands of their chosen industry.