Micro-molding Of Polymer Materials By Bacteria-imprinted Mesoporous Silicates

The microorganism mimics are prepared by micro/nano-molding of poly(α-methylacrylic acid), using bacteria as templates, and silicone resin/mesoporous silicate as outer mold. These plastic microorganisms are uniform in size and the same (or similar) to real microorganisms in shape.The micro-molding process comprises four steps as follows:Firstly, three bacteria, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Actinomyces, are embedded in three-dimensional (3D) macromolecular network of silicone resin gel.Secondly, under roasting, the gel is transformed into mesoporous silicate in which a large amount of bacteria-imprinted cavities are formed.Thirdly, the solution ofα-methylacrylic acid and N,N′-methylene-bis(acrylamides) is injected into inner cavity of silicate, and then free-radical polymerization and cross-linking reaction are carried out.Finally, the silicate as outer mold is"sacrificed"by hydrofluoric acid. The polymeric micro-castings are obtained after centrifugal classification.As a further development of nano-technology, our approach can tailor-make various"irregular"micro/nano-materials like templates. Once the polymer is substituted by a suitable biomaterial, the new approach is shown great promise in preparing an artificial antigen for immunology.