Nanotubes are easily grown to be vertically aligned
NanoPortal Technology
A New Approach to Drug Delivery
Recent advances in titania nanoporous membrane technology have enabled the development of a sub-dermally-implantable drug-delivery device which uses no moving parts and thus is highly space-efficient. The implant uses biocompatible materials extensively used in FDA-approved implants.
NanoPortal Membrane Fabrication
Produced in a Few Simple Steps
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Preparation
Solid titanium disks are prepared with blind holes on one side and a flat surface on the other.
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Anodization
These disks then undergo electrochemical anodization, producing a layer of titania nanotubes on the flat side of the disk.
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Etch
An inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) deep etch is used to remove any remaining material, producing a membrane structure with a nanotube layer connected to a patterned titanium surface.
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Nanotube Optimization
Using Atomic Layer Deposition, titanium oxide is added one atomic layer (0.7 Angstroms) at a time, allowing the nanotube diameter to be precisely calibrated to the size of a given molecule.
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Cutting to Size
The disks are cut to fit the implant reservoir using a femtosecond laser which does not burn the nanotubes or deposit any slag, leaving a clean exterior surface, ready to weld to the reservoir.
Introducing... Nanotubes!
The Future of Materials is Here
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Vertically Aligned
NanoPortal membranes comprise an integrated structure consisting of long, straight, adjacently-connected nanotubes that remain firmly attached to the titanium from which they grew.
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Robust
Nanotubes can be grown to lengths of 40+ micrometers, allowing for robust handling and maintenance of structural integrity under a variety of processing and physiological conditions.
NanoPortal Membrane
NanoPortal membranes can be tailored to be as small as 1 mm in diameter. The titania nanotubes are grown from the titanium and remain chemically connected. The strong interaction of the nanotube layer with the titanium ensures that the only path for diffusion outside of the reservoir occurs through the tunable inner diameters of the nanotubes.
NanoPortal is a Platform Technology
As Flexible as it is Strong
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Controllable Delivery Rate
Delivery rate can be controlled by increasing the number of accessible nanotubes.
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Tunable pore size
To maintain constant-rate delivery, smaller molecules are matched with smaller nanotube diameters.
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Works for many molecules
The ability to tune the delivery rate and accommodate a wide variety of molecules will enable NanoPortal to improve the treatment of many diseases.