Figure 21.2: Movement of the charged particle in a moving boundary electrophoresis.

Disadvantages of Moving Boundary electrophoresis- The resolution of the technique is very low due to the mixing of the sample as well as over-lapping of the sample components. The electrophoresis technique is not good to separate and analyze the complex biological sample instead it can be used to study the behavior of the molecule in an electric field.

Zone electrophoresis- In this method, an inert polymeric supporting media is used between the electrodes to separate and analyze the sample. The supporting media used in zone electrophoresis are absorbent paper, gel of starch, agar and polyacrylamide. The presence of supporting media minimizes mixing of the sample and that makes the analysis and purification of the molecule from the gel much easier than the moving boundary electrophoresis. The gel electrophoresis is the best example of zone electrophoresis.