Watari, M; (2007) In-plane mechanochemistry at model biological interfaces. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

When a chemical or biological reaction occurs on one surface of a microfab- ricated cantilever, a surface stress is generated resulting in cantilever bending motion. This signal transduction mechanism has recently been employed to detect DNA hybridisation and protein recognition, and has attracted much attention as a novel label-free biosensor. However, the biosensing application of cantilevers can best be realised if we develop a fundamental understanding of what causes the cantilever to bend In this thesis, I have performed systematic pH titration experiments using various self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of alkanethiols HS(CH2) X on gold coated cantilevers, which represent a model organic system by virtue of the relatively well-defined surface chemistry. Differential surface stress measurements were taken to probe the biochemically specific interfacial forces, which were found to critically depend upon multiple factors including pH, ion species, and ionic strength of the aqueous environment, as well as chain length and terminal functional group of SAMs. These findings provide important insights into the fundamental origins of surface stress generation, which have broad implications in the study of biochemical interfaces from molecular thin films to cellular membranes.

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