Silica membrane dynamically formed

The present contribution describes a novel low pressure, high flux system which utilizes an "in situ" dynamically formed silica membrane particularly suited for the ultrafiltration of emulsions. The support for this selective layer of silica was a pleated, thin channel crossflow module il (tradename "Acro-flux", Gelman Sciences, Inc.) containing 0.1 m of 0.2 urn pore size acrylonitrile copolymer membrane. 

Tubes for dynamic membranes are usually smaller (ca 6-mm ID). Typically, the tubes are porous carbon or stainless steel with inorganic membranes (silica, zirconium oxide, etc) formed in place. 

As an intermediate between solid supported layers and the inherent dynamic and nanostructured properties of phospholipid vesicle supports, silica and especially mesoporous silica nanoparticles may provide interesting platforms for dynamic bilayers. Previous studies have shown that stable bilayers can form on both amorphous [102] or functional silica [103, 104] and mesoporous nanoparticles [105] or membranes [106]. This type of biomimetic carrier has great potential as a type of trackable stabilized membrane capable of displaying cellular targeting elements in a close to natural configuration. 

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