Functionalized Silicon Membranes for Filtration Applications

by Sonia Létant Nanotechnology E-Newsletter, September 2005 Membranes with various pore size, length, morphology, and density have been synthesized out of various materials for size-exclusion-based separation. An example is the sterilization of intravenous lines by exclusion of bacteria and viruses using polyvinylidene fluoride membranes with 0.1μm-diameter pores. Chemically-specific filtration recently started to be addressed for small molecules1 but specific bio-organism immobilization and detection remains a great technical challenge in many applications that require the analysis of samples such as air, drinking water, and body fluids. Read more