Nanowire field-effect transistors (NW-FETs) havebeen shown to be powerful building blocks for nanoscale bioelectronicinterfaces with cells and tissue due to their excellent sensitivity and theircapability to form strongly coupled interfaces with cell membranes. Graphene hasalso been shown to be an attractive building block for nanoscale electronicdevices, although little is known about its interfaces with cells and tissue. Herewe report the first studies of graphene field effect transistors (Gra-FETs) aswell as combined Gra- and NW-FETs interfaced to electrogenic cells. Gra-FETconductance signals recorded from spontaneously beating embryonic chicken cardiomyocytesyield well-defined extracellular signals with signal-to-noise ratio routinely>4. The conductance signal amplitude was tuned by varying the Gra-FETworking region through changes in water gate potential, Vwg. Signalsrecorded from cardiomyocytes for different Vwg result in constant calibrated extracellular voltage,indicating a robust graphene/cell interface. Significantly, variations in Vwg-across the Dirac point demonstrate the expected signal polarity flip, thus allowing,for the first time, both n- and p-type recording to be achievedfrom the same Gra-FET simply by offsetting Vwg. One-dimensionalsilicon NW- FETs incorporated side by side with the two-dimensional Gra-FETdevices further highlighted limits in both temporal resolution and multiplexedmeasurements from the same cell for the different types of devices. Thedistinct and complementary capabilities of Gra- and NW-FETs could open upunique opportunities in the field of bioelectronics in the future.

Graphene and nanowire transistors for cellular
interfaces and electrical recording

240th National Meeting (2010)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.

Graphene and nanowire transistors for cellular interfaces and electrical recording