Advances in Micro/Nanoporous Membranes for Biomedical Engineering

Abstract

Porous membrane materials at the micro/nanoscale have exhibited practical and potential value for extensive biological and medical applications associated with filtration and isolation, cell separation and sorting, micro‐arrangement, in‐vitro tissue reconstruction, high‐throughput manipulation and analysis, and real‐time sensing. Herein, an overview of technological development of micro/nanoporous membranes (M/N‐PMs) is provided. Various membrane types and the progress documented in membrane fabrication techniques, including the electrochemical‐etching, laser‐based technology, microcontact printing, electron beam lithography, imprinting, capillary force lithography, spin coating, and microfluidic molding are described. Their key features, achievements, and limitations associated with micro/nanoporous membrane (M/N‐PM) preparation are discussed. The recently popularized applications of M/N‐PMs in biomedical engineering involving the separation of cells and biomolecules, bioparticle operations, biomimicking, micropatterning, bioassay, and biosensing are explored too. Finally, the challenges that need to be overcome for M/N‐PM fabrication and future applications are highlighted.

Fabrication of SiNx Nanopore Filters Using Combined Process of Nanoimprint and Dual‐Side Aligned Photolithography for Purified Cs3MnBr5 Green Phosphors

“…Various nanoporous membrane filters have been developed for use as separation tools for biological and chemical species. [ 1–4 ] Separation using membrane filters with sieve size of ≈10–100 nm has been classified as an ultrafiltration process and is commonly used in various applications such as pharmaceutical production, biomedical care, and water purification. [ 5–7 ] Feature size, size uniformity, and permeability are critical parameters for a nanoporous membrane to achieve to be effectively utilized in biological and chemical separation processes.…”

“…Various nanoporous membrane filters have been developed for use as separation tools for biological and chemical species. [1][2][3][4] Separation using membrane filters with sieve size of ≈10-100 nm production on 6 inch Si wafers of nanofilters with precise pore size and narrow size uniformity. Here, the obtained 2D SiN x nanofilters were designed to be integrated into microfluidic devices for a separation process developed in our lab.…”

Effects of Oxygen Plasma Treatment on Parylene C and Parylene N Membrane Biocompatibility for Tissue Barrier Models

“…Parylene is a biocompatible synthetic polymer that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for applications within the human body (USP XXII Class VI biocompatibility rating) 39,40 . Parylene has been successfully used for nanomembrane fabrication by our group as well as others, and it has generally shown favorable cell attachment and growth characteristics, especially after plasma treatment [15][16][17]41 .…”

Nanosheet‐templated graphene oxide membranes for fast molecule separation

“…1,2 Typically, isoporous membranes have pores with uniform size which are applicable for molecule separation. 3,4 There are many methods to prepare the isoporous membranes, such as interference lithography, 5 breath figure, 6 copolymer self-assembly, 7 and so on. Among them, controlling d-spacing is an effective way to prepare the isoporous membranes with laminar nanochannels, such as GO membranes, MoS 2 membranes, WS 2 membranes, and so on.…”