Graphene for Controlled and Accelerated Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Modern tissue engineering strategies combine living cells and scaffold materials to develop biological substitutes that can restore tissue functions. Both natural and synthetic materials have been fabricated for transplantation of stem cells and their specific differentiation into muscles, bones and cartilages. One of the key objectives for bone regeneration therapy to be successful is to direct stem cells' proliferation and to accelerate their differentiation in a controlled manner through the use of growth factors and osteogenic inducers. Here we show that graphene provides a promising biocompatible scaffold that does not hamper the proliferation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and accelerates their specific differentiation into bone cells. The differentiation rate is comparable to the one achieved with common growth factors, demonstrating graphene's potential for stem cell research.Comment: 34 pages, 11 figures, 1 table, submitte

Graphene Q-switched Yb:KYW planar waveguide laser

A diode-pumped Yb:KYW planar waveguide laser, single-mode Q-switched by evanescent-field interaction with graphene, is demonstrated for the first time. Few-layer graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition is transferred onto the top of a guiding layer, which initiates stable Q-switched operation in a 2.4-cm-long waveguide laser operating near 1027 nm. Average output powers up to 34 mW and pulse durations as short as 349 ns are achieved. The measured output beam profile, clearly exhibiting a single mode, agrees well with the theoretically calculated mode intensity distribution inside the waveguide. As the pump power is increased, the repetition rate and pulse energy increase from 191 to 607 kHz and from 7.4 to 58.6 nJ, respectively, whereas the pulse duration decreases from 2.09 μs to 349 ns

Wafer-scale graphene/ferroelectric hybrid devices for low-voltage electronics

Preparing graphene and its derivatives on functional substrates may open enormous opportunities for exploring the intrinsic electronic properties and new functionalities of graphene. However, efforts in replacing SiO$_{2}$ have been greatly hampered by a very low sample yield of the exfoliation and related transferring methods. Here, we report a new route in exploring new graphene physics and functionalities by transferring large-scale chemical vapor deposition single-layer and bilayer graphene to functional substrates. Using ferroelectric Pb(Zr$_{0.3}$Ti$_{0.7}$)O$_{3}$ (PZT), we demonstrate ultra-low voltage operation of graphene field effect transistors within $\pm1$ V with maximum doping exceeding $10^{13}\,\mathrm{cm^{-2}}$ and on-off ratios larger than 10 times. After polarizing PZT, switching of graphene field effect transistors are characterized by pronounced resistance hysteresis, suitable for ultra-fast non-volatile electronics.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; EPL 2011; In pres

30 inch Roll-Based Production of High-Quality Graphene Films for Flexible Transparent Electrodes

We report that 30-inch scale multiple roll-to-roll transfer and wet chemical doping considerably enhance the electrical properties of the graphene films grown on roll-type Cu substrates by chemical vapor deposition. The resulting graphene films shows a sheet resistance as low as ~30 Ohm/sq at ~90 % transparency which is superior to commercial transparent electrodes such as indium tin oxides (ITO). The monolayer of graphene shows sheet resistances as low as ~125 Ohm/sq with 97.4% optical transmittance and half-integer quantum Hall effect, indicating the high-quality of these graphene films. As a practical application, we also fabricated a touch screen panel device based on the graphene transparent electrodes, showing extraordinary mechanical and electrical performances

Graphene transfer: key for applications

The first micrometer-sized graphene flakes extracted from graphite demonstrated outstanding electrical, mechanical and chemical properties, but they were too small for practical applications. However, the recent advances in graphene synthesis and transfer techniques have enabled various macroscopic applications such as transparent electrodes for touch screens and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and thin-film transistors for flexible electronics in particular. With such exciting potential, a great deal of effort has been put towards producing larger size graphene in the hopes of industrializing graphene production. Little less than a decade after the first discovery, graphene now can be synthesized up to 30 inches in its diagonal size using chemical vapour deposition methods. In making this possible, it was not only the advances in the synthesis techniques but also the transfer methods that deliver graphene onto target substrates without significant mechanical damage. In this article, the recent advancements in transferring graphene to arbitrary substrates will be extensively reviewed. The methods are categorized into mechanical exfoliation, polymer-assisted transfer, continuous transfer by roll-to-roll process, and transfer-free techniques including direct synthesis on insulating substrates

Towards industrial applications of graphene electrodes

Since the first isolation of graphene in 2004 by mechanical exfoliation from graphite, many people have tried to synthesize large-scale graphene using various chemical methods. In particular, there has been a great number of advances in the synthesis of graphene using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on metal substrates such as Ni and Cu. Recently, a method to synthesize ultra-large-scale (similar to 30 inch) graphene films using roll-to-roll transfer and chemical doping processes was developed that shows excellent electrical and physical properties suitable for practical applications on a large scale. Considering the outstanding scalability/processibility of roll-to-roll and CVD methods as well as the extraordinary flexibility/conductivity of graphene films, we expect that transparent graphene electrodes can replace indium tin oxide in the near future

Synthesis of Large-Scale Transition Metal Dichalcogenides for Their Commercialization

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) have been identified as excellent platforms for developing the next-generation commercial flexible logic devices and sensors, owing to their outstanding mechanical, optical, and electrical properties. The TMDCs can be used to produce novel form-factors for wearable electronic devices. Typically, synthesis of large-scale TMDC thin film have been achieved by complexity vacuum-based approach. Therefore, it is essential to develop a simple and effective method to boost-up mass production of TMDC thin films on a large scale upon arbitrary substrates. In this regard, the solution-based TMDC synthesis method is advantageous because it proposes a simplification of the fabrication processes and an easy scaling-up of the material with a non-vacuum system. In this review, we summarize the evolution of the solution-based thin-film preparation and synthesis of the TMDCs; subsequently, we discuss the merits and drawbacks of the recently developed methods to form TMDC thin films directly from the deposited precursor. Finally, we discuss the practical applications of the TMDC thin films, which demonstrate the feasibility of their commercialized applications in electronic devices and sensors.

Optical response of large scale single layer graphene

We have measured optical transmission and reflection spectra of large scale graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition technique over the extensive frequency range from far-IR to uv (4 meV-6.2 eV). Large scale graphene exhibits an excitonic absorption peak in the uv-region ((h) over bar omega = 4.6 eV) and the constant interband absorption with sigma(1)(omega) = e(2)/4 (h) over bar in the IR-visible region, respectively. In the far-IR range, Drude peak is observed, and its strength omega(2)(p,2d) indicates the induced carrier density N-2d = 1.95 x 10(12) cm(-2). These results are highly consistent with the theoretical prediction/experimental results of the single layer graphene. It proves that, contrary to the doubts about its quality due to the chemical growth process, the sample has single layer optical response over the entire photon energy; therefore, it can be applied to large scale devices such as terahertz-IR detector, solar cell material, and visible uv-transparent conductor. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3555425