Graphene improves resolution of atomic-level images

The results are published in the journal Advanced Materials.

The molecule, ferritin, is a protein that regulates the levels of iron in animals and plants. Ferritin can sequester excess iron, which can be toxic, and release it when it is needed.

‘We found a way to encapsulate a liquid sample in two very thin layers of graphene - sheets of carbon that are only one atom thick,’ said Canhui Wang, UIC graduate student in physics and first author of the study.

Electron microscopes let researchers see at the level of individual atoms but to do so they must put the samples in a vacuum, making it impossible to image biomolecules in water in their natural, functional state. Biological samples have usually been placed in a container called a ‘liquid stage,’ wedged between relatively thick windows of silicon nitrate.

Robert Klie, the senior investigator on the study, said the thin layers of graphene in the new system work better, being nearly transparent.