Uniform Lab-Scale Biocatalytic Nanoporous Latex Coatings for Reactive Microorganisms

This chapter describes a method for generating uniform lab-scale biocatalytic nanoporous latex coatings. Nearly everything we come into contact with on a daily basis has been coated with some polymer material. High-speed waterborne polymer coating and ink-jet printing techniques are mature technologies. Methods for immobilizing microorganisms in lab-scale waterborne latex biocatalytic coatings draw on existing coating technologies for generating precision industrial paint and paper coatings and would therefore be amenable to scale up in future applications. An inherent problem for many lab-scale techniques is coating uniformity. The method described here has been developed to dramatically increase the uniformity of multiple individual small surface area coatings derived from a single coating template by minimizing edge effects due to emulsion drying adjacent to the edge of the mask.