Radicals at Interfaces: Understanding and Exploiting the Physical Behaviour of Radicals on the Surfaces of Biological and Bulk Materials

被称为自由基的化学物质往往具有高活性，因为它们有一个或多个不成对的电子。在生命系统中，以氧为中心的自由基是由于氧的呼吸作用而存在的。这些以氧为中心的自由基对蛋白质等生物材料极具破坏性，因为它们引发化学反应，破坏生物材料的功能，从而诱发疾病状态。在高科技应用中，自由基通常作为缺陷中心，通过充当电荷陷阱来抑制电子设备（如计算机芯片）的性能。在这两个不同的例子系统中，自由基都是普遍存在的。

Chemical species known as radicals tend to be highly reactive because they have one or more unpaired electrons.  In living systems, oxygen-centred radicals are present because of the respiration of oxygen.  These oxygen-centred radicals are extremely damaging to biological materials such as proteins because they initiate chemical reactions that destroy biomaterial function and consequently induce disease states.  In high-technology applications, radicals often serve as defect centres that inhibit the performance of electronic devices such as computer chips by acting as charge-traps.  In both of these diverse example systems, radicals are ubiquitous.