Bilayer lipid membranes , scanning electrochemical microscopy

Tsionsky M, Zhou IF, Amemiya S, Fan FRF, Bard AJ, Dryfe RAW (1999) Scanning electrochemical microscopy. 38. Application of SECM to the study of charge transfer through bilayer lipid membranes. Anal Chem 71(19) 4300-4305... 

Amemiya S, Bard AJ (2000) Scanning electrochemical microscopy. 40. Voltarametric ion-selective micropipet electrodes for probing ion transfer at bilayer lipid membranes. Anal Chem 72(20) 4940-4948... 

Various planar membrane models have been developed, either for fundamental studies or for translational applications monolayers at the air-water interface, freestanding films in solution, solid supported membranes, and membranes on a porous solid support. Planar biomimetic membranes based on amphiphilic block copolymers are important artificial systems often used to mimic natural membranes. Their advantages, compared to artificial lipid membranes, are their improved stability and the possibility of chemically tailoring their structures. The simplest model of such a planar membrane is a monolayer at the air-water interface, formed when amphiphilic molecules are spread on water. As cell membrane models, it is more common to use free-standing membranes in which both sides of the membrane are accessible to water or buffer, and thus a bilayer is formed. The disadvantage of these two membrane models is the lack of stability, which can be overcome by the development of a solid supported membrane model. Characterization of such planar membranes can be challenging and several techniques, such as AFM, quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), infrared (IR) spectroscopy, confocal laser scan microscopy (CLSM), electrophoretic mobility, surface plasmon resonance (SPR), contact angle, ellipsometry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), patch clamp, or X-ray electron spectroscopy (XPS) have been used to characterize their... 

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