| Nanotechnology has played an important role in the development of research and technology during the last two decades. The contribution of nanotechnology in different fields, along with the versatility of the constructed nanoscale materials, have made nanotechnology one of the most suitable tools to develop particular nanostructures to realize a desired function and application. A nanostructure is simply an entity at the nanometer scale with one, two or three dimensional features. Since nanotechnology covers a broad range of nanoscale materials, to simplify nanotechnology, it can be classified into two categories based on how the nanostructures are prepared: top-down and bottom-up. In the top-down methods, the nanostructures are constructed by chiseling larger bulk materials into entities of smaller size. Conversely, in the bottom-up case, small units are grown or assembled into their desired size and shape. The nanoporous materials specifically have attracted a lot of attention because they can be used for the synthesis of a variety of functional nanostructures of great usefulness in technology. These porous nanostructures usually combine many of the advantages of the top-down and bottom-up methodologies such as flexibility, size controllability, and cost. The research presented in this work utilizes nanoporous membranes to develop porous nanostructured platforms with potential applications in sensing and separations. In particular, this work is centered in fundamental studies for bioanalytical applications of affinity-based nanotube membranes for sensing and separations. A bottom-up methodology like the template synthesis was used to produce silica nanotubes inside of the pores of alumina membrane. The functionalization of the inside walls of these silica nanotube membranes allowed control of the functional behavior and properties of the nanostructured membrane during membrane-based separations and sensing. The general scheme of the work presented here, is distributed in seven chapters. The first chapter consists of a general description of the theory and fundamentals as background supporting evidence for the work presented here. The template synthesis method, the fabrication of the porous alumina membranes and the possibilities that silane chemistry offers in order to functionalize the nanostructured membranes is discussed. In addition, a brief overview of the fundamentals of biological production of proteins, antibodies, and recombinant proteins is described. After this introduction, the studies presented herein are centered in potential bioanalytical applications of the silica nanotube membranes. |
