M. (2020). Biomimetic artificial water channel membranes for enhanced desalination. Nature Nanotechnology.

No abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with a severe loss in thinking, learning, and memory functions of the brain. To date, no specific treatment has been proven to cure AD, with the early diagnosis being vital for mitigating symptoms. A common pathological change found in AD-affected brains is the accumulation of a protein named amyloid-β (Aβ) into plaques. In this work, we developed a micron-scale organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) integrated with a microfluidic platform for the label-free detection of Aβ aggregates in human serum. The OECT channel–electrolyte interface was covered with a nanoporous membrane functionalized with Congo red (CR) molecules showing a strong affinity for Aβ aggregates. Each aggregate binding to the CR-membrane modulated the vertical ion flow toward the channel, changing the transistor characteristics. Thus, the device performance was not limited by the solution ionic strength nor did it rely on Faradaic reactions or conformational changes of bioreceptors. The high transconductance of the OECT, the precise porosity of the membrane, and the compactness endowed by the microfluidic enabled the Aβ aggregate detection over eight orders of magnitude wide concentration range (femtomolar–nanomolar) in 1 μL of human serum samples. We expanded the operation modes of our transistors using different channel materials and found that the accumulation-mode OECTs displayed the lowest power consumption and highest sensitivities. Ultimately, these robust, low-power, sensitive, and miniaturized microfluidic sensors helped to develop point-of-care tools for the early diagnosis of AD.

Polysiloxanes were modified by (co-)hydrosilylation with γ-cyanopropyl and hexyl groups, to finely tune their composition and properties, especially dielectric permittivity, as a way towards active components in dielectric elastomer transducers. Un-modified Si–H groups can be further used to obtain cross-linked thin films.

CitationDesign of block copolymer membranes using segregation strength trend lines 2016 Mol. Syst. Des. Eng. Block copolymer self--assembly and non--solvent induced phase separation are now being combined to fabricate membranes with narrow pore size distribution, and high porosity. The method has the potential to be used with a broad range of tailor made block copolymers to control functionality and selectivity for specific separations. However, the extension of this process to any new copolymer is challenging and time consuming, due to the complex interplay of influencing parameters, such as solvent composition, polymer molecular weights, casting solution concentration, and evaporation time. We propose here an effective method for designing new block copolymer membranes. The method consists of predetermining a trend line for preparation of isoporous membranes, obtained by computing solvent properties, interactions and copolymer block sizes for a set of successful systems and using it as a guide to select the preparation conditions for new membranes. We applied the method to membranes based on poly(styrene--b--ethylene oxide) diblocks and extended it to newly synthesized poly(styrene--b--2--vinyl pyridine--b--ethylene oxide) (PS--b--P2VP--b--PEO) terpolymers. The trend line method can be generally applied to other new systems and is expected to dramatically shorten the path of isoporous membrane manufacture. The PS--b--P2VP--b--PEO membrane formation was investigated by in situ Grazing Incident Small Angle X--ray Scattering (GISAXS), which revealed a hexagonal micelle order with domains spacing clearly correlated to the membrane interpore distances. Eprint version