Lateral Flow Nitrocellulose Membrane For Diagnostic Kit Application: Synthesis, Characterization And Performance Evaluation
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Date
2010-04
Authors
Low, Siew Chun
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
Lateral flow nitrocellulose (NC) membrane is one of the main requirements in the biomedical field due to its excellent binding capacity, high wetting properties and low background staining. However, there are still many challenges in the method of membrane fabrication in order to synthesise and control the membrane morphologies to fulfil the whole range of the required immunoassay applications, which is the main focus of this research. In this research, lateral flow NC membrane was successfully fabricated via dry phase inversion. Detailed studies on the effects of formulation (polymer, additive selection and concentration as well as the role of water as pore former) and process conditions (thickness and drying temperature) was carried out. The varied membrane morphologies and properties were examined and characterized in terms of functional group, porosity, pore size, pore size distribution, surface roughness, effective thickness, lateral wicking time of liquid and protein binding ability in order to comprehend the properties and qualities of synthesised membranes. In the study, membranes with mean pore diameter from 1.3 to 7.5 μm could be produced easily by identifying the interactions among the formulations and casting process variables. Crossed mixture-process design resulted in the optimum casting formulation by considering the process factors of: 4 wt.% of NC, 82 wt.% of solvents (5:3 ratio of MA:E), 10 wt.% of IP, 2 wt.% of water and 2 wt.% of glycerol at 27 oC of drying temperature and 3.05 min of evaporation time. The study also demonstrated the modification of membrane morphology via uniaxial thermal-mechanical stretching technique. Based on the result of the stretching effect experiment, experimental results, AFM and FESEM analyses clearly showed that the membrane morphologies were modified by the stretching effects (elongation, temperature and stretching rate).
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Keywords
Lateral flow nitrocellulose membrane , main requirements in the biomedical field