Porous substrates and arrays comprising the same

A method of fabricating an array, comprising the steps of:

• formulating silica beads in an organic solvent comprising said at least one silane;
• depositing said formulated silica beads in discrete regions of a substrate support;
• and
• fusing said silica beads to form porous substrates in said discrete regions.

A method for fabricating an array, comprising the steps of:

• mixing at least one sol-gel precursor with a membrane under conditions that no significant gelation occurs;
• depositing said mixed sol-gel precursor and membrane into discrete regions on a substrate support;
• and
• initiating gelation in each of said discrete regions to form a sol-gel including said membrane.

A method for fabricating an array, comprising the steps of:

• mixing at least one sol-gel precursor with a membrane;
• hydrolyzing said at least one sol-gel precursor to form a sol-gel including said membrane;
• and
• deposit said sol-gel into discrete regions of a substrate support.

A silica-based porous flow-through microplate fabricated according to the following steps:

• producing a plurality of channels by sand blasting or laser drilling at predetermined locations on a glass plate;
• depositing patches of silicate frits to said predetermined locations;
• sintering to consolidate said frits to form porous substrates;
• and
• assembling the glass plate into a microplate.

A flow-through microplate fabricated according to the following steps:

• producing a plurality of channels by injection molding at predetermined regions on a substrate support;
• reformulating silicate frits with silanes;
• depositing patches of sol-gels containing said silicate frits and silanes to the predetermined regions on the substrate support;
• consolidating said silicate frits and silanes to form porous substrates;
• and
• assembling the substrate support to form a microplate.

A stand-alone porous disc-based microplate fabricated according to the following steps:

• injection molding to make a holey microplate, said holey microplate comprising recess areas in predetermined regions on a side wall of a well of said holey microplate;
• depositing patches of silicate frits to a substrate support;
• consolidating the silicate frits to form standalone porous substrates;
• and
• positioning the standalone porous substrates into the recess areas of the holey microplate.

A flow-through polymeric microplate comprising polymeric porous substrates, said polymeric microplate being fabricated according to the following steps:

• producing channels by injection molding at predetermined locations on a polymeric substrate support;
• positioning polymeric porous substrates to the predetermined locations;
• and
• assembling the polymeric substrate support and the polymeric porous substrates to form a microplate by thermal bonding or adhesive chemistry.

A flow-through microplate prepared according to the following steps:

• positional etching of a glass substrate to form separate porous substrate patches at predetermined locations such that only a top layer of the glass substrate becomes porous;
• sand blasting or laser drilling to prepare at least one channel underneath each said porous substrate patch at the predetermined locations such that the channel passes through the substrate;
• and
• assembling the substrate to form a microplate.