Lipid Dip-Pen Nanolithography for Functional Biomimetic Membrane Systems


,

Keywords: , , , , ,

Dip Pen Nanolithography (DPN) is uniquely well suited for the integration of multiple materials (or inks) with both high resolution and high throughput. Phospholipid-based inks are particularly well suited for this purpose for several reasons. First, their lyotropic liquid crystalline nature enables reproducible tip-coating using multiplexed inkwells for humidity controlled delivery of different inks to different tips in an array, as well as patterning. Second, their chemical diversity allows a variety of different functional groups to be directly integrated into the ink. Third, since the ink transport from the tip to the substrate is based on self-organization and adhesion just about any surface can patterned in this way, including insulating glass or hydrophobic surfaces such as polystyrene. Finally, being a major structural and functional component of biological membranes phospholipids are compatible with the vast amount of molecular resources provided by nature, for instance membrane bound proteins. Methods will be described that allow the parallel deposition of multiple lipid inks on sub-cellular scales or even in direct contact. Line widths down to 100 nm have been achieved as well as controlled multilayer stacking between 1-20 bilayers. Using two-dimensional cantilever arrays, throughputs of 5 cm2/min become possible. Biological applications of DPN based fabrication of biomimetic membrane systems will be discussed.

PDF of paper:


Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 1, Nanotechnology 2008: Materials, Fabrication, Particles, and Characterization – Technical Proceedings of the 2008 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Trade Show, Volume 1
Published: June 1, 2008
Pages: 513 - 516
Industry sector: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing
Topics: Advanced Manufacturing, Nanoelectronics
ISBN: 978-1-4200-8503-7