Fabrication of Au-Nanoparticle-Embedded Lipid Bilayer Membranes Supported on Solid Substrates

We fabricated gold nanoparticle (Au-NP)-embedded supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) by two methods. In the vesicle-vesicle fusion method, vesicles with hydrophobized Au-NPs are ruptured and fused on SiO₂/Si substrates. In the vesicle-membrane fusion method, SLBs without Au-NPs were preformed on the substrate and then vesicles with Au-NPs were fused into the preformed membranes. In the former method, Au-NP incorporation into the SLBs was observed as an increase in the membrane thickness in atomic force microscopy (AFM) images and directly observed by transmission electron microscopy. In the latter method, fusion of vesicles into the preformed membranes was confirmed by the fluorescent color change in the preformed membranes, and Au-NP incorporation was also confirmed by an increase in the membrane thickness in the AFM images. Key techniques for the successful vesicle-membrane fusion are hydrophobization of Au-NPs, approach control of vesicles by mixing the charged lipids, and destabilization of the lipid bilayers by adding lipids with a small polar headgroup.