Method for fabricating supported bilayer-lipid membranes

A method for producing a supported membrane comprising the steps of:

• (i) providing a substrate which is selected from a group consisting of gold, silver, platinum, plastic, polymer and glass and wherein the substrate has a coating of a monolayer comprising reactive functional groups, wherein the monolayer comprises a silane compound, wherein the silane compound is selected from the group consisting of a silyl anhydride, silyl acid, silyl amine, silyl alcohol, vinyl silane or silyl acrylate;
• (ii) contacting said reactive functional groups with a linker compound, wherein the linker compound comprises a straight or branched C10-C25 alkyl, alkynyl, alkenyl, aryl, araalkyl, heteroalkyl, heteroalkynyl, heteroalkenyl, heteroaryl, heteroaraalkyl molecule comprising a terminal functional group, a hydrophilic spacer region and a hydrophobic membrane adhering region to form a derivatized monolayer having covalently bonded linker moieties;
• and
• (iii) contacting said derivatized monolayer with a membrane solution to produce a supported membrane.