Nanoporous anti-fouling silicon membranes for biosensor applications

The ability to create biocompatible well-controlled membranes has been an a rea of great interest over the last few years, particularly for biosensor a pplications. The present study describes the fabrication and characterizati on of novel nanoporous micromachined membranes that exhibit selective perme ability and low biofouling. Results indicate that such membranes can be fab ricated with uniform pore sizes capable of the simultaneous exclusion of al bumin and diffusion of glucose. Compared to polymeric membranes of similar pore size, micromachined silicon membranes allowed more than twice the amou nt of glucose diffusion after 240 min and complete albumin exclusion. Moreo ver, membranes exhibit no morphological change or degradability in the pres ence of biological proteins and fluids at 37 degreesC. The results point to the potential of using such membranes for implantable biosensor applicatio ns. With monodisperse pores sizes as small as 10 nm, these membranes offer advantages in their reproducibility, stability, and ability to be integrate d in silicon-based biosensing technology. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. Al l rights reserved.