Stability of free-standing tetraether planar membranes in microchips
Abstract(#br)Here, we used electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to demonstrate that the polar lipid fraction E (PLFE), a major bipolar tetraether lipid component isolated from thermoacidophilic archaea, can form free-standing planar membranes with remarkable membrane stability in comparison to planar membranes made of diester lipids or triblock copolymers. Stable PLFE planar membranes were generated on micro-pores ranging from 20 to 200\u003cce:hsp sp=\"0.25\"/\u003eµm in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) thin films embedded in a specially made glass/silicon two-chamber microchip.