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Basic research on nanoelectronics is often limited by the high cost and large-scale methods to fabricate electrodes with controlled gap size in nanometer scales. Here nanoelectrodes with a controlled gap size of sub-100 nm were fabricated by modified nanoimprint lithography (NIL) via a double-layer lift-off process utilizing polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and polydimethylglutarimide (PMGI) as the lift-off resist. Firstly the patterns of the electrode mold were transferred onto the upper PMMA layer by NIL techniques and then through controlling the developing time and concentration of developer of the PMGI under layer, regulating the exact gap size of the transferred metal nanoelectrode. The result indicated that the 'undercut' phenomenon was observed of the PMGI transfer layer during the developing process; through controlling the feature size of the undercut length, the gap size of the transferred metal nanoelectrode was precisely controlled, which showed shrinkage behavior. The nanoelectrodes with gap sizes of 800, 400, 200, and 100 nm can be reduced to about 440, 120, 80, and 70 nm. Our result provides a low-cost and large-scale route to prepare nanoelectrodes with controlled gap size, which can be valuable for current efforts in nanoelectronics.

Convenient and simultaneous detection of multiple biomarkers such as DNA and proteins with biocompatible materials and good analytical performance still remains a challenge. Herein, we report the respective and simultaneous detection of DNA and bovine α-thrombin (thrombin) entirely based on biocompatible carbon materials through a specially designed fluorescence on-off-on process. Colorful fluorescence, high emission efficiency, good photostability and excellent compatibility enables graphene quantum dots (GQDs) as the best choice for fluorophores in bioprobes, and thus two-colored GQDs as labeling fluorophores were chemically bonded with specific oligonucleotide sequence and aptamer to prepare two probes targeting the DNA and thrombin, respectively. Each probe can be assembled on the graphene oxide (GO) platform spontaneously by π–π stacking and electrostatic attraction; as a result, fast electron transfer in the assembly efficiently quenches the fluorescence of probe. The presence of DNA or thrombin can trigger the self-recognition between capturing a nucleotide sequence and its target DNA or between thrombin and its aptamer due to their specific hybridization and duplex DNA structures or the formation of apatamer–substrate complex, which is taken advantage of in order to achieve a separate quantitative analysis of DNA and thrombin. A dual-functional biosensor for simultaneous detection of DNA and thrombin was also constructed by self-assembly of two probes with distinct colors and GO platform, and was further evaluated with the presence of various concentrations of DNA and thrombin. Both biosensors serving as a general detection model for multiple species exhibit outstanding analytical performance, and are expected to be applied in vivo because of the excellent biocompatibility of their used materials.

The synthesis of graphene (GR) from graphene oxide (GO) typically involves harmful chemical reducing agents that are undesirable for most practical applications. Here we report a green and facile synthesis method for the synthesis of GR that is soluble in water and organic solvents and that includes the additional benefit of adsorption of heavy metal ions. Acetylacetone, as both a reducing agent and a stabilizer, was used to prepare soluble GR from GO. Transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy provide clear evidence for the formation of few-layer GR. The results from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy show that reduction of GO to GR has occurred. Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy also indicate the removal of oxygen-containing functional groups from GO, resulting in the formation of GR. The results of dispersion experiments show that GR can be highly dispersed in water and N,N-Dimethylformamide. The reaction mechanism for acetylacetone reduction of exfoliated GO was also proposed. This method is a facile and environmentally friendly approach to the synthesis of GR and opens up new possibilities for preparing GR and GR-based nanomaterials for large-scale applications. Of even greater interest is that inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy suggests that synthesized GR may be applied in the absorption of Cd(2+) and Co(2+) due to the strong coordination capacity of acetylacetone on the surfaces and edges of GR and the large surface area of GR in aqueous solutions. The maximum adsorptions are 49.28 mg g(-1) for Cd(2+), which is 4.5 times higher than that of carbon nanotubes, and 27.78 mg g(-1) for Co(2+), which is 3.6 times higher than that of titania beans.