Lipid nanoscaffolds in carbon nanotube arrays

Abstract

We present the fabrication of lipid nanoscaffolds inside carbon nanotube arrays by employing the nanostructural self-assembly of lipid molecules. The nanoscaffolds are finely tunable into model biomembrane-like architectures (planar), soft nanochannels (cylindrical) or 3-dimensionally ordered continuous bilayer structures (cubic). Carbon nanotube arrays hosting the above nanoscaffolds are formed by packing of highly oriented multiwalled carbon nanotubes which facilitate the alignment of lipid nanostructures without requiring an external force. Furthermore, the lipid nanoscaffolds can be created under both dry and hydrated conditions. We show their direct application in reconstitution of egg proteins. Such nanoscaffolds find enormous potential in bio- and nano-technological fields.

Carbon nanotubes for stabilization of nanostructured lipid particles

“…15 However, with CNTs they self-organize in such a way that the non-polar part is shielded from polar medium via hydrophobic interactions with CNT surface while the hydrophilic part faces polar solvent medium, which is usually water based. 10,13,[16][17][18][19][20] The type of self-assembled nanostructure, also called liquid crystalline lipid phases interacting with carbon nanotubes could differ from lipid to lipid 21 as well as with physicochemical conditions. 22 Usually the lamellar nanostructure ( Fig.…”

Effect of fullerene on the dispersibility of nanostructured lipid particles and encapsulation in sterically stabilized emulsions

“…In this work we have taken a different approach and exploited dispersions of a lipid that forms non-lamellar selfassemblies. The main motivation behind this was twofold, 1) lyotropic liquid crystalline selfassemblies of non-lamellar (hexagonal and cubic) types, are highly attractive for biotechnological applications [15,16], hence studying their interaction with fullerenes may outline the possibilities of developing novel hybrid nanomaterials similar to carbon nanotube-lipid hybrids we developed recently [17][18][19], and 2) due to their unique structure fullerenes could act as stabilizers for nanostructured lipid emulsions, by which an elegant properties of both -fullerenes and lipid nanostructures could be utilized for novel applications.…”

“…More interestingly, concentrations of CNT-stabilizers were very low (<10 µg/ml). The lipid coating [18,19] onto CNTs is believed to reduce their potential cytotoxicity given the fact that lipids are already among essential biomolecules in cells. The 'fullerene' is another carbon allotrope like CNTs, hence it is worth examining for stabilizing properties of nanostructured emulsions similar to CNTs [18].…”