Tender for The Supply and Installation of An Aysmmetric Flow Field Fractionation (AF4) Platform

The University of Birmingham invites tenders for the supply and installation of an Asymmetric Flow Field-Flow Fractionation (AF4) system with integrated ultraviolet-visible (UV/Vis), and differential refractive index (dRI) detectors, Multi-Angle Light Scattering (MALS) and online Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) capability, and a fraction collector.

The AF4 system will form part of the research infrastructure funded by the European Research Council (ERC) grant HORDE awarded to Dr Stephen Fielden. It will provide critical support for experimental investigations into nanoemulsions undergoing processes such as Ostwald ripening. AF4 represents one of the few techniques capable of fractionating nanoemulsions according to droplet size, thereby enabling precise and detailed characterisation of complex, time-dependent behaviours in dispersed systems.

The system will be employed to separate nanoemulsion droplets by size, allowing direct measurement of changes in droplet size distribution via integrated MALS and DLS detectors. This capability will provide transformational insight into the mechanisms governing nanoemulsion evolution, a central research theme within HORDE.

Fractionation should be possible in a semi-preparative manner, allowing collected fractions to be further analysed using complementary techniques including Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) to determine the chemical composition associated with distinct droplet populations. The system should therefore be robust, modular, and designed for straightforward integration within the materials characterisation facility within the School of Chemistry. The entire system should have a single PC-based controller capable of executing automated instrument control and data collection. The broad user base and diverse range of emulsion and nanoparticle materials to be characterised with the equipment means that the interface should be user friendly, simple to clean and reliable.