The mobility of molecules on a solid surface plays a key role in diverse phenomena such as friction and self-assembly and in surface-based technologies like heterogeneous catalysis and molecular targeting.  To understand and control these surface processes, we need a universal model of surface transport at solid-liquid interfaces.  However, unlike diffusion at a solid-gas interface, little is known about the mechanisms of diffusion at a solid-liquid interface.  Using single-molecule tracking at a solid-liquid interface, we found that a diverse set of molecules, including polymers and proteins, underwent intermittent random walks with non-Gaussian displacements.  This contrasts with the normal random walk and Gaussian statistics that are commonly assumed for molecular surface diffusion and has important implications for molecular targeting and molecule motion near surfaces. Our findings suggest that intermittent hopping is universal to molecular surface diffusion.

Universal mechanism of molecular transport at the solid-liquid interface

247th National Meeting (2014)

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