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Inspired by nature, many applications and new materials benefit from the interplay of inorganic materials and biomolecules. A fundamental understanding of complex organic-inorganic interactions would improve the controlled production of nanomaterials and biosensors to the development of biocompatible implants for the human body. Although widely exploited in applications, the interaction of amino acids and peptides with most inorganic surfaces is not fully understood. To date, precisely characterizing complex surfaces of inorganic materials and analyzing surface-biomolecule interactions remain challenging both experimentally and computationally. This article reviews several approaches to characterizing biomolecule-surface interactions and illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of the methods presented. First, we explain how the adsorption mechanism of amino acids/peptides to inorganic surfaces can be determined and how thermodynamic and kinetic process constants can be obtained. Second, we demonstrate how this data can be used to develop models for peptide-surface interactions. The understanding and simulation of such interactions constitute a basis for developing molecules with high affinity binding domains in proteins for bioprocess engineering and future biomedical technologies.

Electrochemically modulated liquid chromatography is a special form of ion exchange chromatography in which the separation process is controlled by applying an electric potential to the stationary phase. This form of chromatography has so far only been applied in research studies. The present study shows that multiwalled carbon nanotubes are an effective resin material for an electrochemically modulated chromatography process. The experiments are carried out in a newly designed column that enables the packing of nanomaterials. We investigate the influence of the applied potential on the retention and elution of maleic acid, determine the dynamic binding capacity, and calculate the utilization degree of the electrical charge in the adsorption process. Moreover, the stability of the resin and the membrane over more than 200 working hours are presented. In addition to the stability, their sturdiness and inexpensive price are important qualities that make multiwalled carbon nanotubes interesting for application as the stationary phase in an electrochemically driven process. The investigated chromatography technique represents a promising separation process for future applications as a preparative step in biotechnology as well as other life science fields.