I-Corps: Polymer-free durable carbon nanotube (CNT) film membrane

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是研究无聚合物碳纳米管(CNT)膜过滤器的应用。目前商用的膜主要由聚合物材料制成，但经常受到膜堵塞和表面污染的影响。在某些生物处理应用中，膜污染问题进一步加剧。不含聚合物的碳纳米管薄膜即使在极端温度下也是坚固耐用的。它们抵抗表面污垢，特别适合于生物处理应用，如从用于灭菌的溶液中去除细菌和病毒；以及获取细胞、疫苗和单抗。由于这些独特的性能，无聚合物碳纳米管薄膜具有极大地加速疫苗开发和大幅降低生物制药生产成本的潜力，使患者更容易获得、更容易获得和负担得起。这个i-Corps项目旨在探索无聚合物薄膜的翻译。目前广泛使用的聚合物膜存在膜表面污染、聚合物降解以及对有机溶剂、化学品和高温的耐受性差等问题。尽管碳纳米管由于其化学稳定性一直被认为非常适合这种应用，但它的疏水性阻碍了在不使用聚合物粘结剂的情况下制造碳纳米管膜过滤器的努力。现有的碳纳米管/聚合物复合膜过滤器不能满足苛刻的应用要求，即高通量、化学稳定性、机械稳定性和抗污性。该技术为制备高度均匀、纳米管结构干净的碳纳米管提供了一种有效的提纯方法。在没有任何聚合物粘结剂的情况下，这种提纯对于增密和加固碳纳米管薄膜以产生所需的孔径和机械强度的后续工艺至关重要。这个项目将调查用于生物处理的无聚合物碳纳米管膜过滤器的技术规格。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to investigate applications of polymer-free carbon nanotube (CNT) membrane filters. Membranes currently in commercial use are predominantly made of polymer materials but suffer frequently from membrane clogging and surface fouling. The membrane fouling problem is further exacerbated in certain bioprocessing applications. Polymer-free CNT sheet membranes are strong and chemically robust even at extreme temperatures. They resist surface fouling and are uniquely suited for bioprocessing applications such as removing bacteria and viruses from solutions for sterilization; and harvesting cells, vaccines and monoclonal antibodies. Because of these unique properties, polymer-free CNT sheet membranes have the potential to greatly accelerate vaccine development and drastically lower the cost of biopharmaceutical production, making them more available, accessible, and affordable for patients.This I-Corps project is to explore the translation of polymer-free membranes. Polymer membranes widely in use today suffer from membrane surface fouling, polymer degradation and poor resistance to organic solvents, chemicals and elevated temperature. Although CNT has long been recognized as well suited for this application due to its chemical stability, its hydrophobic nature has hindered efforts to make CNT membrane filters without the use of polymer binders. Available CNT/polymer composite membrane filters do not meet the stringent application requirements, i.e., high flux rate, chemical stability, mechanical stability, and fouling resistance. This technology provides an efficient purification method to render highly uniform CNTs with clean nanotube structure. Such purification is critical for subsequent processes to densify and fortify CNT sheet membranes to produce the desired pore size and mechanical strength in the absence of any polymer binder. This project will investigate the technical specifications of a polymer-free CNT membrane filter for bioprocessing.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.