Abstract
Owing to their excellent durability, tunable physical properties, and biofunctionality, block copolymer-based membranes provide a platform for various biotechnological applications. However, conventional approaches for fabricating block copolymer membranes produce only planar or suspended polymersome structures, which limits their utilization. This study is the first to demonstrate that an electric-field-assisted self-assembly technique can allow controllable and scalable fabrication of 3-dimensional block copolymer artificial cell membranes (3DBCPMs) immobilized on predefined locations. Topographically and chemically structured microwell array templates facilitate uniform patterning of block copolymers and serve as reactors for the effective growth of 3DBCPMs. Modulating the concentration of the block copolymer and the amplitude/frequency of the electric field generates 3DBCPMs with diverse shapes, controlled sizes, and high stability (100% survival over 50 days). In vitro protein–membrane assays and mimicking of human intestinal organs highlight the potential of 3DBCPMs for a variety of biological applications such as artificial cells, cell-mimetic biosensors, and bioreactors.
Highlights
Owing to their excellent durability, tunable physical properties, and biofunctionality, block copolymer-based membranes provide a platform for various biotechnological applications
Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) explicitly determined the unilamellar nature of such structures, which was confirmed by the thickness of PBd-PEO bilayer (~10 nm)[29] (Fig. 1c)
This implies that 3D block copolymer artificial cell membranes (3DBCPMs) exhibit biofunctionality and have the potential for various biological applications ranging from drug screening and biological assays to biosensing
Summary
Owing to their excellent durability, tunable physical properties, and biofunctionality, block copolymer-based membranes provide a platform for various biotechnological applications. The spin-coating method is widely used to form block copolymer thin films on templates; it is restricted in terms of producing patterned areas, which limits its utility in complicated and sophisticated device fabrication Various methods, such as chemical[12,13] or topographical patterning[14], solvent annealing[15], and techniques based on electric fields[16], thermal gradients[17], and shear forces[18] have been developed to address this issue and provide ordered orientation. In aqueous media, block copolymers spontaneously self-assemble into only one type of energetically favorable structure depending on the packing parameter (p = v/a0 lc, where v and lc are the volume and length of the hydrophobic domain, respectively, and a0 is the optimal area of the hydrophilic domain)[19] Their polymer chains are difficult to rearrange because their molecular weight is greater than that of phospholipids, limiting their applications. An electric field with controlled amplitude and frequency regulates the morphology of 3DBCPMs over a packing parameter-dependent structure
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