Nondisruptive Micropatterning of Fluid Membranes through Selective Vesicular Adsorption and Rupture by Nanotopography

We report on a nondisruptive method of patterning fluid membranes into micrometer-scale arrays through a selective vesicular rupture pathway by nanotopography. The site- and pathway-selective formation of supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) was achieved by different vesicular adsorption and rupture processes between nanocorrugated and nanosmooth topographies. The SLBs were first developed in the nanocorrugated region due to fast vesicular adsorption and then grew into the nanosmooth region through bilayer edge-induced vesicular rupture. Our topographic approach provides a viable scheme, yet unattainable in conventional ways, of actively controlling the position and the coverage of the SLBs on a variety of substrates without disrupting two-dimensional fluidity for highly integrated membrane devices.