Flexible free-standing ultrathin or thin protein membrane, its fabrication method and application

摘要

A method for fabricating a flexible free-standing ultrathin (nano) or thin protein membrane that includes (1) keeping a dilute metal (Cd, Cu or Zn) nitrate or chloride solution under neutral or weak basic pH to spontaneously form metal (Cd, Cu or Zn) hydroxide nanostrands; (2) mixing the metal (Cd, Cu or Zn) hydroxide nanostrands and protein solution to obtain composite nanofibers made of protein and the metal (Cd, Cu or Zn) hydroxide nanostrands; (3) filtering the obtained dispersion of composite nanofibers on a filter; (4) cross-linking the proteins contained in the composite nanofibers by a bifunctional cross-linker; and (5) removing the metal (Cd, Cu or Zn) hydroxide nanostrands.

主权项

1. A fabrication method for a protein membrane, which is a flexible free-standing thin membrane, the method comprising:
(1) keeping a dilute metal (Cd, Cu or Zn) nitrate or chloride solution under neutral or weak basic pH to form spontaneously metal (Cd, Cu or Zn) hydroxide nanostrands whose diameters are 2-3 nm; (2) mixing the metal (Cd, Cu or Zn) hydroxide nanostrands and protein solution thereby obtaining a dispersion of composite nanofibers made of protein and the metal (Cd, Cu or Zn) hydroxide nanostrands; (3) filtering the dispersion of the composite nanofibers on a filter; (4) cross-linking the protein contained in the composite nanofibers by a bifunctional cross-linker thereby obtaining a cross-linked nanofibrous composite film; and (5) removing the metal (Cd, Cu or Zn) hydroxide nanostrands with the diameters of 2-3 nm from the cross-linked nanofibrous composite film thereby obtaining a flexible free-standing thin protein membrane containing channels.