Solid-supported lipid bilayer formation by solvent exchange

Solid-supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) provide biomimetic platforms for multi disciplinary research encompassing material science, biology, sensing and medical applications. Apart from well-established methods to produce SLBs, such as the vesicle fusion and Langmuir-Blodgett deposition, a new approach based on solvent exchange has been recently developed and shown to be very versatile. In this chapter, we describe in detail the solvent-exchange method and refer to a number of factors, such as the solvent type, the substrate nature and the lipid concentration and phase, which influence the so-produced SLBs. Furthermore, we briefly discuss the recently reported extension of the method towards solid-supported polymer and hybrid membranes.