The team led by Päivi Laaksonen has discovered a method to exfoliate and functionalize graphene in a way that could find application in high-performance materials like biosensors.

By taking advantage of the favorable hydrophobic interactions between the exposed surface of graphite and the hydrophobic face of amphiphilic proteins known as hydrophobins, it proved possible to directly exfoliate layers of graphene off the surface after exposure to ultrasonic waves. The resulting functionalized ultrathin graphene layers were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, TEM, and AFM (after functionalization with gold nanoparticles).

Now that it is possible to coat graphene with biomolecules in this way, further step towards coatings that have more complex functionalities can be taken to access the production of new nanomaterials.

• Interfacial Engineering by Proteins—Exfoliation and Functionalization of Graphene by Hydrophobins
  P. Laaksonen, M. Kainlauri, T. Laaksonen, A. Shchepetov, H. Jiang, J. Ahopelto, M. Linder,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201001806
• P. Laaksonen, M. Kainlauri, T. Laaksonen, A. Shchepetov, H. Jiang, J. Ahopelto, M. Linder,
  Angew. Chem. 2010, 122.
  DOI: 10.1002/ange.201001806