A smart temperature and magnetic-responsive gating carbon nanotube membrane for ion and protein transportation

Sci Rep. 2016 Aug 18:6:32130. doi: 10.1038/srep32130.

Abstract

Carbon nanotube (CNT) nanoporous membranes based on pre-aligned CNTs have superior nano-transportation properties in biological science. Herein, we report a smart temperature- and temperature-magnetic-responsive CNT nanoporous membrane (CNM) by grafting thermal-sensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) and Fe3O4 nanoparticles (Fe3O4-NPs) on the open ends of pre-aligned CNTs with a diameter around 15 nm via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) method. The inner cavity of the modified CNTs in the membrane is designed to be the only path for ion and protein transportation, and its effective diameter with a variation from ~5.7 nm to ~12.4 nm can be reversible tuned by temperature and magnetic field. The PNIPAM modified CNM (PNIPAM-CNM) and PNIPAM magnetic nanoparticles modified CNM (PNIPAM-MAG-CNM) exhibit excellent temperature- or temperature-magnetic-responsive gating property to separate proteins of different sizes. The PNIPAM-CNMs and PNIPAM-MAG-CNMs have potential applications in making artificial cells, biosensors, bioseparation and purification filters.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acrylic Resins / chemistry
  • Animals
  • Cattle
  • Ferrosoferric Oxide / chemistry
  • Ions / chemistry
  • Ions / metabolism
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Magnetite Nanoparticles / chemistry
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
  • Myoglobin / chemistry
  • Myoglobin / metabolism
  • Nanotubes, Carbon / chemistry*
  • Porosity
  • Proteins / chemistry
  • Proteins / metabolism*
  • Serum Albumin, Bovine / chemistry
  • Serum Albumin, Bovine / metabolism
  • Surface Properties
  • Temperature

Substances

  • Acrylic Resins
  • Ions
  • Magnetite Nanoparticles
  • Myoglobin
  • Nanotubes, Carbon
  • Proteins
  • poly-N-isopropylacrylamide
  • Serum Albumin, Bovine
  • Ferrosoferric Oxide