Other Applications of Zirconia Nanomaterials in the Life Sciences

Other Applications of Zirconia Nanomaterials in the Life Sciences 

The immobilizahon of biomolecules on sohd surfaces represents one of the most important problems in the field of bioelectronics and biosensing, where attempts are made to uhlize biomolecules as achve components to assemble novel hybrid devices [192]. In parhcular, the immobilization of enzymes and proteins under conditions that preserve their nahve structure has triggered considerable research efforts, with the layer-by-layer self-assembly method being one of the most promising techniques due to its simplicity, preciseness of layer thickness. 

Biosensors have also been fabricated and tested by the immobilization of proteins on suitable electrode substrates coated with zirconia nanoparticles to provide an adhesion-promoting, bioinert layer that would still allow electron transfer. Ju et al. immobilized hemoglobin on a graphite electrode that had been modified with Zr02 nanoparticles, and showed that the device could be used as sensor for hydro- 

Gas-phase methods are widely used for the industrial production of the metal oxide nanopowders with diverse particle sizes that are often used as feedstocks in the preparation of ceramics. The stabilization of such powders has provend difficult task, however, and many of today s in vivo applications of nanomaterials rely on solution-based methods, based on much better possibilities of functionalization and manipulation. Comminution has also begun to be accepted for the production of nanoscale powders, although its use for high-purity zirconia nanomaterials, as required for biomedical use, is severely hampered by the extreme hardness of Zr02- 

Unlike zirconia nanoparticle synthesis, the preparation of anisotropic zirconia nanomaterials has been rarely reported, with the preparation of nanoparticles with a rice- or fiber-hke morphology having been achieved in solution-based processes, and the underlying mechanisms not yet understood. Template-based processes, both in solution and in gas phase, have however been successfully employed to prepare nanorods and nanotubes, using common polymer-based membranes and anodic alumina as templates. 

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