High-Yield Synthesis and Optical Properties of Carbon Nanotube Porins

Carbon nailottbe porins (CNTPs) are a convenient membrane-based model system for studying nano-fluidic transport that replicates a number of key structural features of' biological membrane hannels. We present a generalized approach for CNTP synthesis using sonochemistry-assisted segmenting of carbon nanotubes. Prolonged tip sonicatiori in the preence of lipid molecules-debundles and fragments long carbon nanotube aggregates into stable and water-soluble individual CNTPs-with lengths in the range 5-20 nm. We discuss the main parameters that deterinine the efficiency and the yield of this process, describe the optimized onditions for high-yield CNTP synthesis, and demonstrate that this methodology eau be adapted for synthesis of CNTPs of different diameters. We also present the optical properties of CNTPs and show that a combination of Raman and UV-vis-NIR spectroscopy can be used to monitor the quality of the CNTP synthesis. Overall, CNTPs.represent a 'versatile nanopore building block for creating higher-order functional biomimetic materials.