Permeabilization assay for antimicrobial peptides based on pore-spanning lipid membranes on nanoporous alumina

Phase separation in pore-spanning membranes induced by differences in surface adhesion

A porous scaffold providing different adhesion energies alters the behaviour of coexisting phases in lipid membranes considerably.

Two-Step Cycle for Producing Multiple Anodic Aluminum Oxide (AAO) Films with Increasing Long-Range Order

Nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes are being used for an increasing number of applications. However, the original two-step anodization method in which the first anodization is sacrificial to pre-pattern the second is still widely used to produce them. This method provides relatively low throughput and material utilization as half of the films are discarded. An alternative scheme that relies on alternating anodization and cathodic delamination is demonstrated that allows for the fabrication of several AAO films with only one sacrificial layer thus greatly improving total aluminum to alumina yield. The thickness for which the cathodic delamination performs best to yield full, unbroken AAO sheets is around 85 μm. Additionally, an image analysis method is used to quantify the degree of long-range ordering of the unit cells in the AAO films which was found to increase with each successive iteration of the fabrication cycle.

Porous Alumina as a Promising Biomaterial for Public Health

Porous aluminum is a nanostructured material characterized by unique properties, such as chemical stability, regular uniformity, dense hexagonal porous lattice with high aspect ratio nanopores, excellent mechanical strength, and biocompatibility. This overview examines how the structure and properties of porous alumina can be exploited in the field of public health. Porous alumina can be employed for fabricating membranes and filters for bioremediation, water ultrafiltration, and microfiltration/nanofiltration, being a promising technique for having clean and fresh water, which is essential for human health. Porous alumina-based nanobiosensor coated with specific antibodies or peptides seem to be a useful tool to detect and remove pathogens both in food and in water, as well as for environmental monitoring. Further, these applications, being low-energy demanding and cost-effective, are particularly valuable in resource-limited settings and contexts, and can be employed as point of use devices in developing countries, where there is an urgent need of hygiene and safety assurance.

Self-assembly formation of lipid bilayer coatings on bare aluminum oxide: overcoming the force of interfacial water

Widely used in catalysis and biosensing applications, aluminum oxide has become popular for surface functionalization with biological macromolecules, including lipid bilayer coatings. However, it is difficult to form supported lipid bilayers on aluminum oxide, and current methods require covalent surface modification, which masks the interfacial properties of aluminum oxide, and/or complex fabrication techniques with specific conditions. Herein, we addressed this issue by identifying simple and robust strategies to form fluidic lipid bilayers on aluminum oxide. The fabrication of a single lipid bilayer coating was achieved by two methods, vesicle fusion under acidic conditions and solvent-assisted lipid bilayer (SALB) formation under near-physiological pH conditions. Importantly, quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) monitoring measurements determined that the hydration layer of a supported lipid bilayer on aluminum oxide is appreciably thicker than that of a bilayer on silicon oxide. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) analysis indicated that the diffusion coefficient of lateral lipid mobility was up to 3-fold greater on silicon oxide than on aluminum oxide. In spite of this hydrodynamic coupling, the diffusion coefficient on aluminum oxide, but not silicon oxide, was sensitive to the ionic strength condition. Extended-DLVO model calculations estimated the thermodynamics of lipid-substrate interactions on aluminum oxide and silicon oxide, and predict that the range of the repulsive hydration force is greater on aluminum oxide, which in turn leads to an increased equilibrium separation distance. Hence, while a strong hydration force likely contributes to the difficulty of bilayer fabrication on aluminum oxide, it also confers advantages by stabilizing lipid bilayers with thicker hydration layers due to confined interfacial water. Such knowledge provides the basis for improved surface functionalization strategies on aluminum oxide, underscoring the practical importance of surface hydration.

Nanoporous Anodic Alumina: A Versatile Platform for Optical Biosensors

Nanoporous anodic alumina (NAA) has become one of the most promising nanomaterials in optical biosensing as a result of its unique physical and chemical properties. Many studies have demonstrated the outstanding capabilities of NAA for developing optical biosensors in combination with different optical techniques. These results reveal that NAA is a promising alternative to other widely explored nanoporous platforms, such as porous silicon. This review is aimed at reporting on the recent advances and current stage of development of NAA-based optical biosensing devices. The different optical detection techniques, principles and concepts are described in detail along with relevant examples of optical biosensing devices using NAA sensing platforms. Furthermore, we summarise the performance of these devices and provide a future perspective on this promising research field.