Pipette Tips: Filter vs. Non-Filter, Standard vs. Low Retention

Filter vs. Non-Filter Tips

Non-Filter Tips

Non-filter tips contain no internal aerosol barrier. They are appropriate for many routine applications where contamination risk is low, including:

• Aqueous buffer transfers
• Routine reagent preparation
• General sample dilution
• Non-sensitive laboratory workflows

Because there is no filter occupying space inside the tip, non-filter formats can also provide maximum usable tip capacity.

Filter Tips

Filter pipette tips contain a hydrophobic barrier between the liquid and pipette cone. The barrier is designed to reduce aerosols and liquid droplets reaching the pipette interior, helping protect the instrument and reduce the risk of carryover into subsequent samples. Filter construction and pore architecture vary by product rather than following one universal pore-size specification.

Use filter pipette tips when aerosol contamination could compromise the workflow, particularly for:

• PCR and qPCR setup
• RNA and DNA handling
• Cell culture
• Infectious or hazardous samples
• Low-copy-number molecular assays

A filter tip does not replace good pipetting practice. Change tips between samples and follow your laboratory's contamination-control procedures.

Standard vs. Low Retention Tips

Standard Tips

Standard polypropylene tips are suitable for most routine aqueous solutions. For water-like buffers and moderate transfer volumes, a standard tip is often the most economical choice.

Low Retention Tips

Low retention tips use surface properties designed to reduce liquid wetting and the film that remains inside the tip after dispensing.

They are especially useful for:

• Glycerol-containing solutions
• Serum and concentrated protein solutions
• Antibodies and other valuable reagents
• Detergent-containing solutions such as Tween-type or Triton-type surfactants
• Low-surface-tension liquids
• Small-volume transfers where residual liquid represents a meaningful percentage of the intended volume

Published comparative studies show that residual liquid becomes particularly important in small-volume tips and with detergent- or glycerol-containing solutions because the surface-to-volume ratio is less favorable.

The benefit of low retention tips is therefore not that they make every transfer inherently more accurate. They reduce one specific source of error—liquid remaining on the internal tip surface—which can improve sample recovery and consistency when retention is significant.

Both Universal Pipette Tips and LTS-Compatible Pipette Tips can be offered in standard and low-retention configurations depending on the required workflow.

Other Important Tip Features

Sterility

Choose sterile tips for workflows where microbial contamination must be controlled, including many cell culture applications.

Sterility and molecular purity are separate specifications. A sterile product should not automatically be assumed to meet every nuclease- or PCR-related requirement.

DNase/RNase-Free

For RNA and DNA workflows, verify that tips are certified to meet the required DNase- and RNase-free specifications.

Extended Length

Extended-length tips help you access deep-well plates, reagent vessels, or tubes while reducing the likelihood that the pipette shaft contacts the vessel opening.

Fine-Point Tips

Fine or narrow distal geometries can improve access to small wells and support controlled dispensing in low-volume applications.

Automation Tips

Automation Tips are manufactured for robotic pickup, sealing, positioning, and ejection. They require tighter dimensional consistency than typical manual tips and must be matched to the specific liquid-handler platform.

Decision Guide for Choosing Pipette Tips

When choosing pipette tips, several features can be combined. A PCR workflow, for example, may require a sterile or molecular-grade filter pipette tip with low-retention characteristics.

Cost Considerations

Filter and low-retention formats generally cost more than basic standard tips, so there is little benefit in specifying premium features where the application does not require them.

For routine buffer preparation, standard non-filter tips are often sufficient.

For contamination-sensitive molecular workflows, the additional cost of filter tips is easier to justify because one contamination event can invalidate an entire experiment.

Likewise, low retention tips are most valuable when you work with expensive samples, difficult liquid properties, or volumes small enough that residual liquid materially affects recovery.

Automation Tips typically carry additional manufacturing and packaging requirements. In robotic workflows, however, consistent pickup, sealing, and ejection can be more important than minimizing tip cost alone because a failed tip can interrupt an automated run.

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