The Culture of Mammalian Cells on Nanostructured Silicon

For biologically interfaced sensing applications, nanostructured porous silicon (PSi) is a very promising candidate, since mammalian cells can be cultured directly onto it. The development of cell culture systems for a PSi–cell interface is described, together with the development of a more “nature-identical” simulated plasma (SP). The Figure shows an SEM image of crystallites that have formed on nanoporous Si exposed to SP for 25 days.