Fig. 3: The sizing of a mixture that could not be deconvoluted using standard sizing techniques.

a The voltage applied across the electrophoresis chamber was adjusted in linear steps to direct specific fractions to analysis. b The fractions were then sized by imaging the diffusional sizing unit consisting of four channels in which the extent of the diffusion of the analyte molecules into their surrounding carrier buffer was monitored. c The average size of the analytes molecules in each of the fractions were found by fitting the observed fluorescent profiles for different hydrodynamic radii (R_h) and minimising the least mean square error between the fit (red dotted line) and the data (blue continuous line). d The fluorescence intensity in the analysis area varied depending on the concentration of the analytes in each of the fractions (top) and the sizes of the components in a binary mixture of lysozyme and bovine serum albumin were found to be R_h = 1.9 nm and R_h = 3.6 nm (bottom). e This binary mixture could not be characterised using sizing techniques that do not involve pre-fractionation steps, such as dynamic light scattering (DLS; light blue dotted line). Its sizing was possible using the device described in this work (dark blue continuous line)