Mesoporous carbide-derived carbon for cytokine removal from blood plasma

Porous carbons can be used for purification of bio-fluids due to their excellent biocompatibility with blood. Since the ability to adsorb a range of inflammatory cytokines within the shortest possible time is crucial to stop the progression of sepsis, the improvement of the adsorption rate is a key factor to achieving efficient removal of cytokines. Here, we demonstrate the effect of synthesis temperatures (from 600 °C to 1200 °C), carbon particle sizes (from below 35 μm to 300 μm), and annealing conditions (Ar, NH3, H2, Cl2, and vacuum annealing) that determine the surface chemistry, on the ability of carbide-derived carbons (CDCs) to remove cytokines TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β from blood plasma. Optimization of CDC processing and structure leads to up to two orders of magnitude increase in the adsorption rate. Mesoporous CDCs that were produced at 800 °C from Ti2AlC with the precursor particle size of <35 μm and annealed in NH3, displayed complete removal of large molecules of TNF-α in less than an hour, with >85% and >95% TNF-α removal in 5 and 30 min, respectively. This is a very significant improvement compared to the previously published results for CDC (90% TNF-α removal after 1 h) and activated carbons. Smaller interleukin IL-6 and IL-1β molecules can be completely removed within 5 min. These differences in adsorption rates show that carbons with controlled porosity can also be used for separation of protein molecules.