Design Rationale for CO Separation Membranes with Micropatterned Surface Structures.

Here, we report the design rationale of CO separation membranes with micropatterned surface structures. Thin film composite (TFC) membranes with micropatterned surface structures were fabricated by spray coating amine-containing hydrogel particles on the top of micropatterned porous support membranes, which were synthesized by a polymerization-induced phase separation process in a micromold (PIPsμM). The pore size of the support membranes was optimized by tuning the proportion of good and poor solvents for the polymerization process so that the microgels would be assembled as a defect-free separation layer.

Polymer Nanoparticles with Uniform Monomer Sequences for Sequence-Specific Peptide Recognition.

Synthetic polymer nanoparticles (NPs) that recognize and neutralize target biomacromolecules are of considerable interest as "plastic antibodies", synthetic mimics of antibodies. However, monomer sequences in the synthetic NPs are heterogeneous. The heterogeneity limits the target specificity and safety of the NPs.

Assembly of Defect-Free Microgel Nanomembranes for CO Separation.

The development of robust and thin CO separation membranes that allow fast and selective permeation of CO will be crucial for rebalancing the global carbon cycle. Hydrogels are attractive membrane materials because of their tunable chemical properties and exceptionally high diffusion coefficients for solutes. However, their fragility prevents the fabrication of thin defect-free membranes suitable for gas separation.

Electrostatic Interactions between Acid-/Base-Containing Polymer Nanoparticles and Proteins: Impact of Polymerization pH.

Electrostatic interaction between synthetic polymer nanoparticles (NPs) and proteins is of considerable importance in the design of NPs that capture, neutralize, and deliver target molecules in a biological milieu. Ionizable functional groups, such as carboxylic acids and amines, are often introduced to NPs to tune the affinity with target bio-macromolecules through electrostatic attraction and repulsion. However, acids/bases are not always ionized at a physiological pH because acidities of the functional groups depend on the microenvironment around the acids/bases that are imprinted during the polymerization process.