Transparent, patterned graphene oxide films with tunable electrical conductivity using thermal, chemical, and photoreduction techniques for lab-on-a-chip applications

This work demonstrates the fabrication of electrically tunable films of graphene oxide (GO). GO thin films were deposited and micropatterned on a cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) substrate using a plasma-enhanced liftoff technique. This article discusses thermal, chemical, and photoreduction methods for controlling the electrical conductivity of the patterned film. The patterned graphene oxide films were used to manipulate cells after embedding them in a microfluidic channel. Cells were manipulated under dielectrophoresis (DEP) using patterned reduced graphene oxide (rGO) films with varying electrical conductivities. The non-uniform electric field required for DEP was created either by arranging and shaping a set of electrodes (eDEP) or by simply implementing low conductivity rGO as an insulator between two metal electrodes (iDEP).

Automated summary

This research demonstrates the fabrication of electrically tunable graphene oxide (GO) films. GO thin films were deposited and patterned on a cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) substrate using plasma-enhanced liftoff technique. The article discusses thermal, chemical, and photoreduction methods for controlling the electrical conductivity of the patterned film. The patterned graphene oxide films were used to manipulate cells in a microfluidic channel, employing dielectrophoresis (DEP) with patterned reduced graphene oxide (rGO) films of different electrical conductivities.