Figure: graphene electro-plated gold electrode
Karen Cheung’s lab works on a variety of sensors to probe biological systems. They also build models of biological systems that allow testing of novel interfaces and devices. This work is important to bionics because it allows the bionic interfaces to get information from the biological systems to pass to an electronic part and vice versa.
Biological systems are very sensitive about the kinds of surfaces they interact with. While gold surfaces are relatively inert, graphene can have more desirable properties. This method allows standard gold electrodes to be replaced simply with graphene electrodes.
Y. Li, I. Martens, K. C. Cheung, and D. Bizzotto, Electrodeposition of reduced graphene oxide onto gold electrodes: creating thin electrochemically active and optically transparent overlayers, Electrochimica Acta, 2019, 319, 649-656