Single Molecule Adhesion

Involved People: Julia Appenroth, Pierluigi Bilotto, Laura E. Mears

The development of strong adhesives in aqueous environments still poses a challenge to technology. For a better understanding of wet adhesion in biologic systems it is important to discern surface interactions of single molecules. With the help of Atomic force microscopy, Optical tweezers and electrochemical surface polarization we study adsorption and desorption processes of single molecules to different surfaces in aqueous environment.

We gain insigth into the binding mechanisms at the solid/liquid interface by combining bond rupture experiments with electrochemical bond manipulation. This will help in the development of new biomedical applications and technologies. This project is funded by the European Research Council through the ERC Grant No. 677663, the ENROL program and internal funds.

GENERAL INFO:
Contact: Prof. Markus Valtiner