Miniaturized chemical analysis systems have the potential to become ubiquitous in everyday life, accelerating our access to chemical information in much the same way that integrated electronic circuits have improved our ability to communicate. However, a significant divide exists between the design of single-use structures for academic purposes vs. scalable, integrative components analogous to those found within electronic circuits. The research presented here demonstrates that nanoporous metallic films can help bridge that gap, by performing two or more of the vital on-chip manipulation tasks simultaneously. These tasks include fluid transport, molecular detection, and electrochemical reactivity. In this work, several types of microanofluidic structures are fabricated, and a diverse set of experimental tests are performed which quantify the ways in which nanoporous metal films can enhance the performance of the device in many unique ways. For example, a new sensing strategy is developed based on nanoporous Au films. This strategy, called wavevector resolved spectral imaging, shows excellent promise for miniaturization by meeting or exceeding the performance metrics of existing technology: sensitivity, limits of detection, and resolution. A closely related structure, the Au-coated nanocapillary array membrane, is highly effective at controlling fluid within 3-dimensional micro-nanofluidic devices. In addition to plasmonic sensing and electrokinetic transport, electrochemistry can be performed at high efficiency within the nanofluidic volume. This is demonstrated by constructing embedded nanoband electrodes within the membrane. Tightly coupled electrokinetic transport with electrochemical production is demonstrated, greatly improving both the conversion efficiency and the ease with which the product is delivered downstream. The embedded electrode device is shown to increase electrochemical throughput 35-fold over existing nanoelectrode technologies. Finally, a nanoporous Au film was used to study a variety of electrochemical reactions using the plasmonic sensing technique developed in this work. Ultimately the opportunities for combinatorial microfluidic processing are strong, especially when facilitated by the intelligent integration of metallic components for decentralized chemical analysis.