Three-Dimensional Tracking of Interfacial Hopping Diffusion

Theoretical predictions have suggested that molecular motion at interfaces-which influences processes including heterogeneous catalysis, (bio) chemical sensing, lubrication and adhesion, and nanomaterial self-assembly-may be dominated by hypothetical hops through the adjacent liquid phase, where a diffusing molecule readsorbs after a given hop according to a probabilistic sticking coefficient. Here, we use three-dimensional (3D) single-molecule tracking to explicitly visualize this process for human serum albumin at solid-liquid interfaces that exert varying electrostatic interactions on the biomacromolecule. Following desorption from the interface, a molecule experiences multiple unproductive surface encounters before readsorption. An average of approximately seven surface collisions is required for the repulsive surfaces, decreasing to approximately two and a half for surfaces that are more attractive. The hops themselves are also influenced by long-range interactions, with increased electrostatic repulsion causing hops of longer duration and distance. These findings explicitly demonstrate that interfacial diffusion is dominated by biased 3D Brownian motion involving bulk-surface coupling and that it can be controlled by influencing short- and long-range adsorbate-surface interactions.