This dissertation analyzes the feasibility and advantages of molecular functionalization of scanning tunneling microscope (STM) probes with buckminsterfullerenes. The C60 molecules are adsorbed onto the tunneling region of a STM tip by rastering the tip in a thin lm of C60 vacuum deposited on graphite. The individual tip-adsorbed molecules are subsequently imaged in situ by scanning the fullere...

Electrospun nanofibres are highly attractive products taking advantage of their remarkable specific surface area, high porosity and good transport properties that are ideal requirements for efficient molecule detection. In this work, fibres of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) were first prepared by electrospinning. These fibres were then coated with silver nanoparticles or silver/graphene nanocomposites...

The porous silicon (PS) surface modification diagnostics due to functionalization and water adsorption/desorption processes were provided by the self-action effects of picosecond range pulsed laser radiation at 1064 nm. It was shown that the PS surface functionalization-oxide removal, alkylation, and oxidation-resulted in a refractive nonlinear optical (NLO) response sign turn to self-focusing ...

Interface engineering to attain a uniform and compact self-assembled monolayer at atomically flat surfaces plays a crucial role in the bottom-up fabrication of organic molecular devices. Here we report a promising and operationally simple approach for modification/functionalization not only at ultraflat single-crystal metal surfaces, M(111) (M=Au, Pt, Pd, Rh and Ir) but also at the highly orien...

An alternative method of micro/nano-transport has been achieved by using motor proteins. Microtubules on a kinesin-coated surface have potential to act as a nano-transport system. When microtubules are used as carriers, either cargo or cargo linkers are attached on the microtubule surface. Such cargo attachments can significantly affect kinesin motion. To deal with the difficulty caused by mole...

Recently, mesoporous carbon nitride (MCN) has aroused extensive interest for its potential applications in organocatalysis, photo- and electrochemistry and CO2 capture. However, further surface functionalization of MCN for advanced nanomaterials and catalysis still remains very challenging. Here we show that acidic carboxyl groups can be smoothly introduced onto the surface of well-ordered MCN ...

This review focuses and summarizes recent studies on the functionalization of carbon nanotubes oriented perpendicularly to their substrate, so-called vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VA-CNTs). The intrinsic properties of individual nanotubes make the VA-CNTs ideal candidates for integration in a wide range of devices, and many potential applications have been envisaged. These applications c...

Surface functionalization of inorganic semiconductor substrates, particularly silicon, has focused attention toward many technologically important applications, involving photovoltaic energy, biosensing and catalysis. For such modification processes, oxide-free (H-terminated) silicon surfaces are highly required, and different chemical approaches have been described in the past decades. However...

Efforts to extend nanoparticle residence time in vivo have inspired many strategies in particle surface modifications to bypass macrophage uptake and systemic clearance. Here we report a top-down biomimetic approach in particle functionalization by coating biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles with natural erythrocyte membranes, including both membrane lipids and associated membrane proteins fo...