Paper GR+AS+NS+SS-ThM2
Enclosing, Isolation and Electron Microscopy of Encapsulated Microscopic Objects Using Graphene Oxide Membranes

Thursday, October 31, 2013, 8:20 am, Room 104 B

We report on a new drop casting technique for facile and gentle encapsulation of micro and nano objects at arbitrary substrates by electron (photon) transparent graphene oxide membranes. The encapsulation is based on a droplet formation around the encapsulated object and relies on the effect of facile water permeability through the surface segregated quasi 2D network of graphene oxide microflakes. The process of encapsulation was studied using a set of model objects and micro-structured surfaces such as nanowires, inorganic droplets, micro-bubbles, pollen and micro-organisms. Two specific regimes of encapsulation, such as wrapping and isolating, can be realized via controlling the hydrophobicity of the substrates. Several specific phenomena, such as object compression, primary and secondary encapsulation were observed. Finally, the electron microscopy and analysis of the encapsulated objects, image contrast formation mechanism, beam broadening and attenuation are discussed. The technique can find an application in forensic science, histology and environmental remediation.