Modelling and Quantification of Gas Flux through an Artificial Epidermis A. Habib 1 and K.Habib 2 1 Department of Biomedical Engineeirng The University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa, 52242, USA 2 Materials Science Laboratory, Department of Advanced Systems, KISR, P.O.Box 24885, SAFAT, 13109, Kuwait Keywords: Solid nanoporous membranes, Dusty Gas Model (DGM), Solution diffusion, Surface diffusion, oxygen and carbon dioxide gases transport, and “epidermal” layer (artificial skin ). Abstract. A general model of transport of gases in an artificial epidermal layer (membrane) was established. The model was developed based on Dusty Gas Model (DGM), solution diffusion and surface diffusion. As a result, solutions of the model for different transport conditions were derived. In this investigation, parameters of oxygen and carbon dioxide gases through an artificial “epidermal” membrane of varying porosity were used to calculate semi -empirical solutions of the general model. In other words, the solutions of the general model were analytically obtained for different transport conditions, using experimentally obtained parameters of oxygen and carbon dioxide gases through the artificial “epidermal” membrane of varying porosity. The obtained solutions of the general model were for the oxygen and carbon dioxide gases through the artificial “epidermal” membrane of the varying porosity. Introduction An important transport phenomenon in biomedical engineering is the transport of gases through a solid membrane. This type of transport serves as the basis for the measurement of blood gases in diagnostic tools used today. Additionally, thin membranes are employed in the construction of artificial skin; with the transport of gases through them affecting their use. In this study, the transport of gases through solid membranes was investigated. An important material property such as the porosity of solid membranes was considered, where porosity is described in terms of void fraction (volume of pores/total volume) and pore radius. The void fraction observed in this study were  = 10 -6 %, 10 -3 % and 10 -1 %. The pore radius was set in the nano-scale (2 nm). The material composing the porous membrane will consists of silicone, with similar material properties to the “epidermal” layer of the Integra© (Integra LifeSciences, Plainsboro, NJ) artificial skin. The objective of this investigation was to model the individual transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide gases through these artificial “epidermal” membranes of varying porosity. Then from this model a unitless measure of transport through the porous membranes was derived and used to quantify the flux. In previous studies, a general model of the transport of gases in porous membranes has been established based on the contribution of solid diffusion, surface diffusion, and diffusive and viscous flux through the pores (Dusty Gas Model) [1]. This model has been previously used to predict the transport of hydrogen gas through membranes of varying porosity [2]. In this study, this model was used to describe the individual transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide through a thin nano-porous silicone membrane used in artificial skin of varying porosity. Journal of Biomimetics, Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Vol. 1 (2009) pp 49-56 Online: 2008-07-14 © (2009) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/JBBTE.1.49 All rights reserved. No part of contents of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of Trans Tech Publications, www.ttp.net. (ID: 94.29.200.194, KISR , Safat, Kuwait-31/07/15,15:47:44)