Zone electrophoresis is suggested with flat capillary instead of circular ones to get over the disadvantages of both the narrow-bore and wlde-bore circular tubes (CT). This method was fully investigated in theory. A flat tube with a 2a×ka-mm (2a<ka) channel develops the maximum radial temperature gradient (π/k)-1 times less than an a -mm i. d. circular one. Compared with a 2a-ram i. d. circular tube, the flat one has at least a ((2k/π)-1)-fold increase in absorption response or decrease in detection limits, and the same fold increase in allowable sample throughput. The highest efficiency with a flat tube is thus expected. These were all tested in electrophoresis with 0.2×0.6-mm, 0.2-ram i. d. and 0.4-mm i. d. plastic tubes. Besides, the 0.2×0.6-mm flat tube required a less recovery time than the 0.2-mm i. d. tube and allowed a higher working voltage than the 0.4-mm i. d. tube, which implied that the flat tube offered the highest speed. The optimum k was observed at the values of 6—10 in the experi