Chemical labeling for quantitative characterization of surface chemistry

The development and recent achievements of chemical labeling based surface characterization techniques are reviewed. Chemical labeling utilizes the specificity of chemical reactions to attach labeling molecules to surface functionalities, in order to facilitate the detection, identification and quantification of surface species. In this report, different chemical labeling based techniques are compared in terms of sensitivity, specificity and ease of operation. The two most widely used techniques, XPS derivatization and fluorescence labeling, are discussed in detail. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.