Structural and dynamic studies of the adsorption behavior of small molecules within and on the surface of porous systems are of great interest for designing biocompatible and sustainable biodevices. Porous vycor glass is an ideal system for such studies because of its well characterized hydrophilic network of cylindrical pores. Moreover, the pore sizes in vycor are directly comparable to pore sizes of systems like macromolecules and biological membranes. Molecular dynamics simulations of vycor-water interactions as well as some structural data from neutron scattering and diffraction experiments are available. Close to the pore surface the number of water-water hydrogen bonds is reduced, and compensated by vycor-water hydrogen bonds. Insight into the behavior of water molecules in those confined geometries could provide necessary and relevant information for designing biodevices for tissue generation, as well as about contamination- and inflammation affinities of implant materials.

Here we present an Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) study of vycor at different levels of surface hydration.