In recent years, chirality at the nanoscale [1–4] and chiral surfaces
[5–14] have been found to play an important role in nanotechnology,
particularly chiral nanoscale surfaces and chiral nanoparticles. Generally,
chiral solid surfaces can be derived from chiral bulk structures that
expose chiral, enantioselective surfaces, such as quartz and other
crystalline materials (typically covalent inorganic oxides) [15]. Another
category of chiral solid surfaces is composed of crystalline solids produced
from materials with achiral bulk structures. Such chiral surfaces
are based on single crystals ofmetals (with bcc or hcp crystal structures)
[7] that expose high Miller indices with periodic arrays of steps, terraces,
and kinks. Finally, the most common method for the preparation of chiral
surfaces is the adsorption of chiral molecules, typically onto metallic
surfaces. The resulting surface is chiral if the adsorbed molecules retain
their chirality. Although chiral surfaces based on self-assembled monolayers
(SAMs) or polymeric surfaces exhibit highly enantiospecific properties,
they still suffer from many restrictions, such as low thermal
stability and poor chemical and mechanical characteristics, which limit
their use for chemical applications, particularly for enantioselective catalysis
and chiral separation.