Water structuring and collagen adsorption at hydrophilic and hydrophobic silicon surfaces

The adsorption of a collagen fragment on both a hydrophobic, hydrogen-terminated and a hydrophilic, natively oxidised Si surface is investigated using all-atom molecular dynamics. While favourable direct protein-surface interactions via localised contact points characterise adhesion to the hydrophilic surface, evenly spread surface/molecule contacts and stabilisation of the helical structure occurs upon adsorption on the hydrophobic surface. In the latter case, we find that adhesion is accompanied by a mutual fit between the hydrophilic/hydrophobic pattern within the protein and the layered water structure at the solid/liquid interface, which may provide an additional driving force to the classic hydrophobic effect.