A systematic study of the Cu-catalyzed chemical vapor deposition of graphene under extremely low partial pressure is carried out. A carbon precursor supply of just P_CH4 ~ 0.009 mbar during the deposition favors the formation of large-area uniform monolayer graphene verified by Raman spectra. A diluted HNO₃ solution is used to remove Cu before transferring graphene onto SiO₂/Si substrates or carbon grids. The graphene can be made suspended over a ~12 μm distance, indicating its good mechanical properties. Electron transport measurements show the graphene sheet resistance of ~0.6 kΩ/□ at zero gate voltage. The mobilities of electrons and holes are ~1800 cm²/Vs at 4.2 K and ~1200 cm²/Vs at room temperature.

An important clinical challenge is the development of implant surfaces which have good integration with the surrounding tissues and simultaneously inhibit bacterial colonization thus preventing infection. Recently, graphene oxide (GO) a derivative of graphene, has gained considerable attention in the biomedical field owing to its biocompatibility, surface functionalizability and promising antimicrobial activity. In this study gelatin-functionalized graphene oxide (GOGel) was synthesized by a simple one step modification where GO and GOGel were used to develop surface coatings on nitinol substrates. Mouse osteoblastic cell (MC3T3-E1) functions including cell attachment, proliferation and differentiation were investigated on GO-based coatings. The results indicated that MC3T3-E1 cell functions were significantly enhanced on both GO coated nitinol (GO@NiTi) and GOGel coated nitinol (GOGel@NiTi) compared with the control nitinol without coating (NiTi). Especially, the GOGel@NiTi surface exhibited the best performance for cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation. Additionally the antimicrobial property of GO-based coatings against E. coli was studied with the evaluation of colony forming units (CFU) counting, live/dead fluorescent staining and scanning electron microscope (SEM). We found that the growth of E. coli was inhibited on GOGel@NiTi and particularly on GO@NiTi. SEM images revealed that the cell membrane of bacteria lost their integrity and live/dead fluorescent images confirmed the low live/dead ratio of E. coli after incubation on GOGel@NiTi and GO@NiTi. We conclude that GO-based coatings on NiTi combine the antimicrobial activity and improved biocompatibility and therefore present a remarkable potential in biomedical implant applications.

This letter demonstrates the transfer and formation of aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays at low temperature by imprinted conductive adhesive. A thermoplastic isotropic conductive adhesive is patterned by an imprint and heat transfer process. The CNTs grown by thermal chemical vapor deposition are then transferred to another substrate by the conductive adhesive, forming predefined patterns. The current-voltage response of the transferred CNT bundles verifies that good electrical connection has been established. This process can enable the integration of CNTs into various temperature-sensitive processeses and materials.