Patent ID: 7928038

Claim:
A method of modifying a surface of an oxide support material, the method comprising: providing an oxide support material having a surface with hydroxyl and/or oxide anion groups; contacting the hydroxyl and/or oxide anion groups of the surface of the oxide support material with a metal reagent; and allowing at least a portion of the metal reagent to react with at least a portion of the hydroxyl and/or oxide anion groups on the surface to form a modified surface for use in a bio-molecule detection scheme; wherein the metal reagent has a structure represented by the formula: Y(L-Pol) m wherein: Y is a transition metal, magnesium or aluminum, L is oxygen, sulfur, selenium or an amine, each “Pol” group independently represents a polyethylene glycol, a substituted polyethylene glycol, a hydrocarbon, a substituted hydrocarbon, a fluorocarbon or a substituted fluorocarbon, and m is an integer.