The overall focus of this thesis is on the development and understanding of nanoporous layered silicates and membranes, particularly for potential applications in gas separations. Nanoporous layered materials are a rapidly growing area of interest, and include materials such as layered zeolites, porous layered oxides, layered aluminophosphates, and porous graphenes. They possess unique transport properties that may be advantageous for membrane and thin film applications. These materials also have very different chemistry from 3-D porous materials due to the existence of a large, chemically active, external surface area. This feature also necessitates the development of innovative strategies to process these materials into membranes and thin films with high performance.