Transfer of printed electronic structures using graphene oxide and gelatin enables reversible and biocompatible interface with living cells

Abstract

We present a low-cost, easy-to-implement platform for printing materials and interfacing them with eukaryotic cells. We show that thermal or chemical reduction of a graphene oxide thin film allows water-assisted delamination of the film from glass or plastic. The chemical and physical properties and permeability of the resulting film are dependent on the method of reduction and deposition of the graphene oxide, with thermal reduction removing more oxidized carbon functionality than chemical reduction. We also developed a method to attach the films onto cell surfaces using a thin layer of gelatin as an adhesive. In general, the films are highly impermeable to nutrients and we observed a significant amount of cell death when gelatin was not used; gelatin enables diffusion of nutrients for sustained cell viability. The combination of nanoscale membranes with a low melting point biopolymer allows us to reversibly interface cells with cargo transferred by graphene oxide while maintaining cell viability. To demonstrate delivery of electronic structures, we modified a commercial off-the-shelf printer to print a silver-based ink directly onto the reduced graphene oxide films which we then transferred to the surface of the cells.