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Updated: Aug 1, 2026

Investigating Single Molecule Adhesion by Atomic Force Spectroscopy
Published on: February 27, 2015
Surface anchoring of rodlike molecules on corrugated substrates
Kenji Kiyohara1, Kinji Asaka, Hirosato Monobe
1Research Institute for Cell Engineering, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Ikeda, Osaka 563-8577, Japan. k.kiyohara@aist.go.jp
Abstract:
We studied the mechanism of surface anchoring of rodlike molecules on substrates with the surfaces corrugated at molecular scale by molecular-dynamics simulation. We constructed a model for substrates that can have anisotoropic topographical patterns such as corrugation. The structural and thermodynamic properties of rodlike molecules on the corrugated surfaces, including the elastic and anchoring properties, were calculated and the influence of the surface structure on the anchoring was discussed. We found that the rodlike molecules are aligned along the grooves of the corrugated surfaces guided by the anisotropic molecular interaction between the molecules and the corrugated surface. The strength of anchoring was found to be increased when the period of corrugation is decreased at molecular level.
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