2022, Lee, Geonhee, Oh, Yuna, Nam, Jung Tae, Ji, Seulgi, Jang, A.-Rang, Jeong, Du Won, Kang, MinSoung, Lee, Sun Sook, Chae, Soosang, Cho, Donghwi, Hwang, Jun Yeon, Lee, Kyungeun, Lee, Jeong-O.

In the present study, we showed that hydrophilic graphene can serve as an ideal imaging plate for biological specimens. Graphene being a single-atom-thick semi-metal with low secondary electron emission, array tomography analysis of serial sections of biological specimens on a graphene substrate showed excellent image quality with improved z-axis resolution, without including any conductive surface coatings. However, the hydrophobic nature of graphene makes the placement of biological specimens difficult; graphene functionalized with polydimethylsiloxane oligomer was fabricated using a simple soft lithography technique and then processed with oxygen plasma to provide hydrophilic graphene with minimal damage to graphene. High-quality scanning electron microscopy images of biological specimens free from charging effects or distortion were obtained, and the optical transparency of graphene enabled fluorescence imaging of the specimen; high-resolution correlated electron and light microscopy analysis of the specimen became possible with the hydrophilic graphene plate.