A major challenge in in biosensing is that conventional biosensors are flat and rigid while cells and tissues are 3D and soft. Hence, there is an urgent need to develop electrical and optical biosensing platforms that are 3D and flexible so that they conform to the cell membrane. We discuss a flexible 3D biosensor composed of ultrathin graphene that has been coated with silver nanocubes (G-Ag). The graphene film was non-covalently functionalized with temperature responsive polymer brushes, so that the G-Ag microstructures can self-fold into well-defined 3D geometries. In addition, the self-folding G-Ag microstructures can encapsulate 3D objects such as microparticles and live cells with conformal contact to the surface of target. Strong Raman signals from the encapsulated live cell can be detected due to its close proximity to silver nanocubes, and 3D chemical information from the entire cell membrane can be obtained with high resolution. This new class of ultrathin 3D shell biosensors offers the possibility for 3D optical biosensing with high signal to noise ratios.

Flexible ultrathin graphene microstructures for 3D biosensing

256th National Meeting (2018)

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