Surface modification and modulation in microstructures: controlling protein adsorption, monolayer desorption and micro-self-assembly

The surface-to-volume ratio increases with decreasing scale, thus, controlling and changing the surface properties of microstructures can be a powerful tool in the design, fabrication and use of microsystems. This paper overviews several recent projects that utilize the modulation of surfaces from hydrophobic to hydrophilic and vice versa, or from protein adsorbing to non-fouling, with applications in biomedical microdevices and self-assembling microelectromechanical systems.