Development of functional surfaces on metallic materials via design of (bio)molecular and metal oxide surface layers

功能材料/表面在当今世界发挥着重要作用，从简单的消费品，如抗菌表面（如绷带）到能源生产（如光阳极），再到医疗应用（如药物洗脱冠状动脉支架）。虽然在设计新设备/设备时需要考虑大块材料的特性，但在许多情况下，材料（即设备）的实际功能主要取决于其表面与周围环境的相互作用。因此，实现表面功能化以获得特定性能对于许多新技术的发展具有重要意义。这一直是并将继续是我研究项目的重点。

Functional materials/surfaces play a major role in today's world, ranging from simple consumer products, such as anti-bacterial surfaces (e.g. bandages) to energy production (e.g. photoanodes) to medical applications (e.g. drug-eluting coronary stents). Although bulk-material properties need to be considered when designing new equipment/devices, the actual functionality of the material (i.e. the device), in many cases depends predominantly on the interaction of its surface with the surrounding environment. Thus, functionalization of surfaces to achieve specific properties is of major importance for the development of many new technologies. This has been and continues to be the focus of my research program. The research program proposed in this grant application explores novel approaches for the design of functional surfaces. It will focus on (i) the design of new (bio)molecular and metal-oxide functional monolayers/coatings on model and commercial (industrial) metal/alloy surfaces for specific applications (e.g. coronary stents, neural stimulating and sensing electrodes, bone/dental implants, electrochemically-assisted drug-release systems), and on (ii) the determination of fundamental relationships between physicochemical, morphological and topographical properties of surfaces and their interaction with various environments (proteins, cells, bacteria, corrosive electrolytes and various (bio)organic molecules). While objective (i) is of direct practical significance, the knowledge gained by achieving objective (ii) will enable us to understand how various surface physicochemical properties (e.g. charge, wettability, chemical composition and reactivity), topography, structure of thin surface films and their electronic/dielectric and morphological properties control the interaction of the material's surface with its surroundings. This will, in turn, enable us and other researchers to base the design of surfaces for various applications on phenomena at the molecular/nano-level, rather than on empirical methods.