The culture of bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), as well as the control of its differentiation toward different tissue lineage, is a very important part of tissue engineering, where cells are combined with artificial scaffold to regenerate tissues. Graphene (G) and graphene oxide (GO) sheets are soft membranes with high in-plane stiffness and can potentially serve as a biocompatible, transferable, and implantable platform for stem cell culture. While the healthy proliferation of stem cells on various carbon platforms has been demonstrated, the chemical role of G and GO, if any, in guiding uncommitted stem cells toward differentiated cells is not known. Herein, we report that the strong noncovalent binding abilities of G allow it to act as a preconcentration platform for osteogenic inducers, which accelerate MSCs growing on it toward the osteogenic lineage. The molecular origin of accelerated differentation is investigated by studying the binding abilities of G and GO toward different growth agents. Interestingly, differentiation to adipocytes is greatly suppressed on G because insulin, which is a key regulator for the synthesis of fatty acids, is denatured upon π-π adsorption on G; in contrast, GO does not interfere with adipogenesis due to electrostatic binding with insulin. The different binding interactions and their subsequent influence on stem cell growth and differentiation are ascribed to different degrees of π-π stacking and electrostatic and hydrogen bonding mediated by G and GO.

This work reports a simple, clean, and controlled hydrothermal dehydration route to convert graphene oxide (GO) to stable graphene solution. The hydrothermally treated GO was characterized using UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, and solid state 13 C NMR spectra. Compared to chemical reduction processes using hydrazine, the present "water-only" route has the combined advantages of removing oxygen functional groups from GO and repairing the aromatic structures. By controlling the hydrothermal temperatures, we can modify the physical properties of GO and obtain tunable optical limiting performance.

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We demonstrate that graphene can be used as an ultrahigh efficiency preconcentration and detection platform for ssDNA. DNA-adsorbed graphene can be used directly for Surface Enhanced Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight-Mass Spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS). The rapid enrichment of biomolecules and direct, label-free detection are potentially useful for analysis in proteomics and genomics.

Inspired by the amphiphilicity of graphene oxide (GO), the surface of water is used as a template for the assembly of a GO film. Methacrylate-functionalized GO sheets can be cross-linked instantaneously at the water-air interface to form a highly wrinkled membrane spreading over an extended area. The multiple covalent linkages amongst the GO sheets enhances the in-plane stiffness of the film compared to noncovalently bonded GO films. The highly convoluted GO membrane can be used in two applications: the promoting of spontaneous stem-cell differentiation towards bone cell lineage without any chemical inducers, and for supercapacitor electrodes. Due to reduced van der Waals restacking, capacitance values up to 211 F g(-1) can be obtained. The scalable and inexpensive nature of this assembly route enables the engineering of membranes for applications in regenerative medicine and energy-storage devices where secondary structures like nanotopography and porosity are important performance enhancers.