The majority of today's polymeric membranes demonstrate a high permeability, selectivity and fractionation selectivity to achieve competitive industrial processes. However, after fabrication the membrane exhibits invariable characteristics that mainly determine its performance parameters. Functional coatings with novel nano- and micromaterials overcome these static properties and extend the functionality of conventional membranes. This thesis showcases new straightforward fabrication methods to achieve functional coatings with a) responsive microgels or b) metal-organic frameworks (MOF) with embedded enzymes on porous membranes to create multi-functional composite membranes. Stable smart-gating membranes were prepared by adsorption of a single responsive microgel layer on top of a membrane. The development of an online-visualization module enabled the tracking of single microgels under flow-induced shear. In this way, a detailed study elucidated how charged microgels not only induce charge retention of the membrane but also increase microgel mobility. The latter resulted in either washing-off or infiltration of the microgels depending on whether the microgels were adsorbed on the surface or within the porous structure. This microgel movement affected the selectivity of the composite membrane. For the first time, a counter-diffusion technique at two immiscible phases was combined with in situ biomineralization to synthesize enzymatically active MOF membranes in a single fabrication step. While creating a highly interconnected MOF film, this proof of concept preserved the activity of the embedded enzyme. To conclude, this thesis demonstrates that functional coatings on conventional membranes are a powerful approach to face the growing need for specific membrane adaption.weiterlesen