- THE MAGAZINE Nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) structures
have received considerable attention in the research community
for a range of uses. The self-ordering and straight channel
porous structure has been exploited primarily as a template
structure for producing nanorods/nanofibers of Au, Pt, Cu and
Ag, as well as several polymers.1-4 More recently, nanoporous
AAO has also been used to develop nanoporous membranes for a
variety of medical devices.5-7 Here, the development of AAO
membranes has been concentrated on applications for biological
fluid separation. Proteins, toxins and viruses on the molecular
level are capable of being separated from human blood using
synthetic polymer membranes. AAO Membranes and
HemodialysisHemodialysis, one of the applications that uses
polymer membranes, refers to the extracorporeal filtering of
blood through an artificial kidney for the purpose of
maintaining or supplementing kidney function. In this process, a
blood circuit is formed when blood is drawn from a patien