Haydale, a manufacturer of graphene powder, recently presented at the Advanced Functional & Industrial Printing 2016 a paper on the development of roll-to-roll gravure printing of biosensors based upon electrically conductive graphene structures and adherence proteins. The described development was a result of a project undertaken by a consortium of organisations lead by the Frauhofer Institut fur Biomedizinische Technik (IBMT) which involved Haydale in the development of biocompatible and electrically conductive graphene ink suited for gravure printing. Using its proprietary HDPlas plasma technology, Haydale was able to develop the required surface functionalised graphene ink that was gravure printed and implemented as a base biosensor on cell culture microplates. The presentation provided detail of the graphene ink biosensor development, its electrical characterisation and cytotoxicity testing. Further information was provided on fabrication of the gravure printing cylinders and the R2R gravure printing process using the graphene ink.
Performance validation The presentation concluded that the project had successfully demonstrated gravure printing with the developed functionalised graphene ink. The developed graphene ink has been shown not to be cytotoxic and thus suitable for use in biosensors. Cell adhesion is improved by additional protein coating on the graphene structures. The next stage of this project is to validate the performance of the biosensors in a series of target applications. Haydale previously reported on grant awards for two biosensor ink projects. Both are progressing well and should lead to the development of commercial products in approximately 12-18 months’ time, the company said.
To read the presentation in full go here.
This story is adapted from material from Haydale, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
