Use of polymerisation to produce free-standing membranes from exponentially growing multilayer films.

In this communication, we demonstrate that dopamine is able to undergo a polymerisation process in (PLL-HA)n polyelectrolyte multilayer films, and that this polymerisation is of the same nature as in solution at pH 8.5. This polymerisation changes the chemical composition and decreases the mobility of the PLL chains in the film, and ultimately allows the easy detachment of the film as free-standing membranes with 0.1 M HCl solutions.