Patent ID: 7223327

Claim:
A releaseable membrane structure for producing a free membrane, the releaseable membrane structure comprising: a substrate and a releaseable membrane on a surface of the substrate, the releaseable membrane comprising a release stratum and a membrane stratum, wherein (i) the release stratum has a front surface and a back surface, the back surface being adsorbed to the surface of the substrate, the release stratum comprising a positively-charged release polyelectrolyte and a negatively-charged release polyelectrolyte which are associated; (ii) the membrane stratum has a front surface and a back surface, the back surface adsorbed to the front surface of the release stratum, the membrane stratum comprising a positively-charged membrane polyelectrolyte and a negatively-charged membrane polyelectrolyte which are associated; and (iii) the release stratum and the membrane stratum have a different composition whereby upon application of a dissociation stimulus, the release stratum dissociates, but the membrane stratum remains intact and is released from the substrate.