Design, Fabrication and Characterization of Ultrananocrystalline Diamond (UNCD) Membranes for Drug Delivery Devices

PABLO GURMAN, MARTIN ZALAZAR, JUNG H. PARK AND ORLANDO AUCIELLO

Simposio; Symposium EE: Diamond Electronics and Biotechnology–Fundamentals to Applications VI; 2012

Ultrananocrystalline Diamond (UNCD) is a promising material for biomedical applications, due to its extraordinary mulifunctionality, including tunable electrical conductivity, extremely low wear, very low coefficient of friction, high smoothness, bio-inertness and biocompatibility. UNCD is exceptional for implantable medical devices requiring stringent biological performance. Drug delivery systems are important medical devices providing significant medical (improve pharmacokinetics decreasing drug dose and toxicity) and commercial (increasing product portfolio by adding new products and decreasing drug discovery costs by recycling old drugs) advantages. This presentation will focus on the design, fabrication and characterization of UNCD membranes for passive and active drug delivery devices.