Premium
Formation and electrical characterization of black lipid membranes in porous filter materials
Author(s) -
Aminipour Zahra,
Khorshid Mehran,
Bayoumi Mariam,
LosadaPérez Patricia,
Thoelen Ronald,
Bonakdar Shahin,
Keshvari Hamid,
Maglia Giovanni,
Wagner Patrick,
Van der Bruggen Bart
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201700104
Subject(s) - materials science , membrane , capacitance , porosity , bilayer , polypropylene , chemical engineering , permeability (electromagnetism) , lipid bilayer , characterization (materials science) , composite material , chemistry , nanotechnology , electrode , biochemistry , engineering
Black lipid membranes (BLMs) are planar lipid bilayers that can be formed in porous supports such as filters. A BLM as a biomimetic membrane has important applications in, for instance, biosensing and drug‐permeability assays. In the present study, BLMs were formed in the pores of three different filters to investigate their ability to support the formation of a high‐quality lipid bilayer. Poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF), poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN), and polypropylene/polyethylene (PP/PE) filters were utilized as filter supports, and the bilayer formation was monitored in situ by capacitance measurements. The maximum capacitance was obtained for PVDF (5.34 μF · cm −2 ) versus PP/PE and PAN (2.95 and 0.91 μF · cm −2 , respectively). Additionally, BLM leakage current measurements by wave deviation provided consistent results. Thickness and compactness of the bilayers were evaluated using pore forming protein (ClyA) insertion. The results show that PVDF with the highest porosity level was the most suitable support for BLM formation. The optimal thickness for the BLM in PVDF was 3–5 nm, where the most efficient protein insertion took place, in comparison with other filters.