Superstructures of lipids and graphene

Abstract

This thesis systematically analyzes the physical-chemistry

of lipid-graphene interactions with the major objective of reconciliating the

variety of results reported in the literature. By using five major

characterization techniques typically used to study lipids, namely IR spectroscopy, ellipsometry, AFM, neutron reflectivity and QCM-D, this thesis characterizes – in details – layered structures of graphene and lipids (so called superstructures) and separately studies the dynamics of the interaction between lipids and graphene. The most remarkable result is that through the systematic construction of i) a lipid monolayer on a silicon substrate; ii) the subsequent coating with graphene and iii) the deposition of a last lipid monolayer on top of the two layers stack; graphene could be encapsulated in the hydrophobic core of a lipid bilayer for the first time, promising a range of applications to sense biological processes occurring near or inside a lipid bilayer.