Pulsed plasma physical vapour deposition approach towards the facile synthesis of multilayer and monolayer graphene for anticoagulation applications
Vijayaraghavan, Rajani K.ORCID: 0000-0003-1096-448X, Gaman, CezarORCID: 0000-0001-8588-8595, Jose, Bincy, McCoy, Anthony, Cafolla, Tony, McNally, Patrick J.ORCID: 0000-0003-2798-5121 and Daniels, Stephen
(2016)
Pulsed plasma physical vapour deposition approach towards the facile synthesis of multilayer and monolayer graphene for anticoagulation applications.
ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 8
(7).
pp. 4878-4886.
ISSN 1944-8244
We demonstrate the growth of multilayer and single layer graphene on copper foil using
bipolar pulsed direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering of a graphite target in pure Ar
atmosphere. Single layer and few layer graphene films (SG and FLG) are deposited at
temperatures ranging from 700-920 °C in less than 30 minutes. We find that the deposition and
post-deposition annealing temperatures influence the layer thickness and quality of the graphene
films formed. The films were characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning
electron microscopy (SEM), High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM),
Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and optical transmission
spectroscopy techniques. Based on the above studies, a diffusion controlled mechanism was
proposed for the graphene growth. A single step whole blood assay was used to investigate the
anticoagulant activity of graphene surfaces. Platelet adhesion, activation and morphological
changes on the graphene/glass surfaces compared to bare glass were analysed using fluorescence
microscopy and SEM techniques. We have found significant suppression of the platelet
adhesion, activation and aggregation on the graphene covered surfaces compared to the bare
glass, indicating the anticoagulant activity of the deposited graphene films. Our production
technique represents an industrially relevant method for the growth of single and few layer
graphene for various applications including the biomedical field.