Ultrathin Covalently Bound Organic Layers on Mica: Formation of Atomically Flat Biofunctionalizable Surfaces

Mica is the substrate of choice for microscopic visualization of a wide variety of intricate nanostructures. Unfortunately, the lack of a facile strategy for its modification has prevented the on-mica assembly of nanostructures. Herein, we disclose a convenient catechol-based linker that enables various surface-bound metal-free click reactions, and an easy modification of mica with DNA nanostructures and a horseradish peroxidase mimicking hemin/G-quadruplex DNAzyme.