A composite membrane comprising: a) a porous support; b) a gutter layer; and c) a discriminating layer;
wherein at least 10% of the discriminating layer is intermixed with the gutter layer.

Spacers may be attached onto a membrane by a method in which adjacent ones of the spacers are spaced apart from one another with spacings that are accurate to a very fine tolerance. In the method, adjacent ones of the spacers may be attached to one another via lateral members so as to fix the relative spacing between the spacers. The spacers arranged with the fixed spacing may be attached to a transparent substrate via one or more intermediate layers, and thereafter, the lateral members may be severed. Afterwards, a surface of each of the spacers facing away from the transparent substrate may be coated with an adhesive layer. The spacers may be pressed against a membrane so as to attach the spacers to the membrane via the adhesive layer. After being attached to the membrane, the spacers may be detached from the transparent substrate.

Described herein is a method for altering the characteristics of a membrane comprising a dielectric material. The method comprises heating the membrane and applying an electric field in a direction out of the plane of the membrane to at least a portion of the dielectric material. At least a portion of the dielectric material becomes aligned with the applied electric field. In some embodiments, the membrane is piezoelectric and application of an electric signal to the membrane causes out of plane movement of the membrane. Also disclosed are membranes and systems and apparatuses comprising such membranes.

Disclosed herein are compositions and methods that involve inserting connector protein channels of bacteriophage DNA packaging motors into copolymeric membranes via liposome-polymer fusion, which can be used as nanopore sensors for biomedical applications such as high throughput protein sequencing or cancer diagnosis. For example, disclosed are compositions comprising a copolymeric membrane into which a connector protein channel of a bacteriophage packaging motor has been inserted.

A composite membrane comprising: a) a porous support; b) a gutter layer; and c) a discriminating layer;
wherein at least 10% of the discriminating layer is intermixed with the gutter layer.

A method of forming a filter with uniform pore sizes includes synthesizing a moiety so as to form a plurality of like platelets having a precisely sized pore extending therethrough, distributing the plurality of like platelets about a membrane having apertures therethrough, and bonding the plurality of platelets around the apertures to form precisely sized pores through the membrane. A filtration membrane is also disclosed which provides a porous membrane having a plurality of apertures therethrough, and a plurality of platelets, wherein each platelet has a pore therethrough. The platelets are positioned over or in the apertures.

A composite membrane comprising: a) a porous support; b) a gutter layer; and c) a discriminating layer; wherein at least 10% of the discriminating layer is intermixed with the gutter layer.

Provided is a composite semipermeable membrane, comprising: a microporous support membrane which comprises a substrate and a porous support, and a polyamide separation functional layer formed on the microporous support membrane, wherein the polyamide has an irreversible heat absorption, which is measured using temperature modulated DSC, of 275 J/g or more at a temperature in the range of 20 to 150 C. in the first heating process.

Provided is a high-performance composite semipermeable membrane having high chemical durability, high water permeation and high rejection.

A composite membrane comprising: a) a porous support; b) a gutter layer, a portion of which is present within the support and a portion of which is outside of the support; and c) a discriminating layer on the gutter layer; wherein: (i) the portion of the gutter layer outside of the support has an average thickness (GL.sub.e) of 10 nm to 900 nm; and (ii) the portion of the gutter layer present within the support has an average thickness (GL.sub.i) of 10% to 350% of GL.sub.e.

A composite membrane comprising: (a) a porous support; (b) a gutter layer; (c) a discriminating layer having an average thickness of at most 90 nm; and (d) a protective layer having an average thickness 150 nm to 600 nm comprising dialkylsiloxane groups.