My primary research efforts are directed toward understanding how silanes bond to metal surfaces at the molecular level. Silanes are used as adhesion promoters between an organic coating and an inorganic substrate. We are characterizing the bonding of silanes that have various organofunctional groups and single or multiple hydrolyzable groups.
Titanium is one of the substrates being used because it is a biocompatible material.
We use glancing incidence FTIR to characterize vibrational frequencies at the silane-metal interface. This technique is also used to confirm the bonding configuration of the silane. Our long-term goal is to understand the process of adhesion promotion at a molecular level and to apply this knowledge to improve macroscopic adhesion phenomena. We will also tether protein molecules to the silane layers to change the biocompatibility of the surface.