We prepared nanoporous membranes using self-assembly of silica colloidal spheres surface-modified with acrylate polymer brushes carrying acidic (sulfonic) or basic (quaternized amines) groups. The membranes were prepared by mixing the polymer-modified silica spheres of the opposite charge followed by their vertical or horizontal deposition from suspension and air-drying. The mechanical stability of the resulting membranes is due to non-covalent acid-base interactions between the polymer brushes, while the porosity results from the presence of the hard colloidal nanoparticles. The membrane nanopore size can be controlled in the 5-50 nm range by varying the silica sphere size and the length of the polymer brushes.
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