This article discusses different approaches to build up supramolecular nanoarchitectures on surfaces, which were simultaneously investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) on the single-molecule level. Following this general road map, first, the hydrogen-bonding guided self-assembly of two different, structural-equivalent molecular building blocks, azobenzene dicarboxylic acid and stilb...

Within the framework of The Heterogeneous dust Evolution Model for Interstellar Solids (THEMIS), this work explores the surface processes and chemistry relating to core/mantle interstellar and cometary grain structures and their influence on the nature of these fascinating particles. It appears that a realistic consideration of the nature and chemical reactivity of interstellar grain surfaces c...

Historically, one of the most accomplished nanoscale building blocks is the quantum dot, also known as a semiconductor nanocrystal (NC). Since the early 1980s, the chemistry of colloidal nanostructures has been almost exclusively concentrated on colloidal semiconductors such as CdS and TiO2. Those early efforts rose from the oil crisis in the late 1970s, and semiconductor NCs with enhanced surf...

Strategies that confine antibacterial and/or antifouling property to the surface of the implant, by modifying the surface chemistry and morphology or by encapsulating the material in an antibiotic-loaded coating, are most promising as they do not alter bulk integrity of the material. Among them, plasma-assisted modification and catechol chemistry stand out for their ability to modify a wide ran...

We report the use of polyelectrolyte multilayers in a stable robust surface chemistry for specific anchoring of DNA to glass. The nonspecific binding of fluorescently tagged nucleotides is suppressed down to the single-molecule level, and DNA polymerase is active on the anchored DNA template. This surface-chemistry platform can be used for single-molecule studies of DNA and DNA polymerase and m...

Aims. We have recently developed a microscopic Monte Carlo approach to study surface chemistry on interstellar grains and the morphology of ice mantles. The method is designed to eliminate the problems inherent in the rate-equation formalism to surface chemistry. Here we report the first use of this method in a chemical model of cold interstellar cloud cores that includes both gas-phase and sur...

We discuss a variety of processes important in determining the chemical composition within interstellar and circumstellar clouds. Much of the gas-phase chemistry has been well-studied in the laboratory, although we point out several processes for which information is scarce. In recent years it has become apparent that grain surface chemistry plays a much bigger role in synthesising molecules th...