Sensing ion channels in neuronal networks with graphene transistors

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the use of liquid-gated graphene transistors to detect single ion channel activity in hippocampal neurons, leveraging grain boundary sensitivity for high-resolution bioelectronic sensing.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of CVD graphene grain boundary-enhanced G-FETs for real-time, nanoscale detection of neuronal ion channels.

Findings

Successful detection of single ion channel activity in neurons

Grain boundaries significantly improve graphene transistor sensitivity

Drug dependence and gating effects observed in ion channel signals

Abstract

Graphene, the atomically-thin honeycomb carbon lattice, is a highly conducting 2D material whose exposed electronic structure offers an ideal platform for sensing. Its biocompatible, flexible, and chemically inert nature associated to the lack of dangling bonds, offers novel perspectives for direct interfacing with bioelements. When combined with its exceptional electronic and optical properties, graphene becomes a very promising material for bioelectronics. Among the successful bio-integrations of graphene, the detection of ionic currents through artificial membrane channels and extracellular action potentials in electrogenic cells have paved the road for the high spatial resolution and wide-field imaging of neuronal activity. However, various issues including the low signals amplitude, confinement and stochasticity of neuronal signals associated to the complex architecture and interconnectivity of neural networks should be still overcome. Recently, grain boundaries found in CVD graphene were shown to drastically increase the sensitivity of graphene transistors providing nanoscale sensing sites. Here we demonstrate the ability of liquid-gated graphene field effect transistors (G-FET) on which hippocampal neurons are grown for real-time detection of single ion channels activity. Dependence upon drugs and reference potential gating is presented and is found compatible with the nanoscale coupling of a few ion channels to graphene grain boundaries.