Supported nanocomposite membranes: bridging microtechnology with nanotechnology.

Bridging top-down and bottom-up manufacturing approaches is desirable to exploit the advantages of both approaches. A simple method that combines microfabrication technique with layer-by-layer self-assembly for in situ fabrication of supported nanocomposite membrane structures is presented. To our knowledge, our approach has yielded the largest nanocomposite membrane size. The micro/nanostructures presented in this work can find broad applicability for sensors, MEMS/bioMEMS, cell biology, microfluidics, and lab-on-chip devices.