pikoliter

A picoliter (abbreviated pL) is a unit of volume in the metric system, equal to 10^-12 liters. Some sources use the variant spelling "pikoliter," but both refer to the same quantity. The standard name and symbol in scientific usage are picoliter and pL, respectively.

One picoliter is equivalent to 1 × 10^-15 cubic meters. In more familiar metric subunits, it is equal to 1 × 10^-9 cubic centimeters, and it is 0.001 nanoliters or 0.000001 microliters. This places the volume at the very small end of practical liquids measurement, typically encountered in specialized laboratory techniques.

Picoliters are commonly used in fields that handle tiny liquid volumes, such as microfluidics, single-cell analysis, and certain analytical chemistry practices. They are relevant to droplet-based assays, miniaturePCR setups, and other technologies that operate at the scale of nanoliter to picoliter droplets or samples. Instruments designed for such work include specialized micropipettes and microfluidic devices capable of dispensing or measuring volumes in the picoliter range.

Etymology and standard usage: the prefix pico- denotes 10^-12, and liter is the SI unit of volume. The combination forms a widely accepted unit for describing very small liquid volumes. While "pikoliter" may appear in some contexts or languages, the accepted English spelling is "picoliter." See also SI units, metric prefixes, and microfluidics.