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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Covalent Attachment of Single Molecules for AFM-based Force Spectroscopy
Published on: March 16, 2020
Covalent attaching protein to graphene oxide via diimide-activated amidation
Jianfeng Shen1, Min Shi, Bo Yan
1Center of Special Materials and Technology, Fudan University, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, China.
Abstract:
In this paper, graphene oxide nanosheets (GOS) are functionalized by bovine serum albumin (BSA) via diimide-activated amidation under ambient conditions. The obtained GOS-BSA conjugate is highly water-soluble. Results of atomic force microscopy (AFM), Raman spectra and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis confirm that GOS-BSA conjugate contains both GOS and BSA protein. AFM image shows that GOS are fully exfoliated. Results of cyclic volatammograms show that the protein in the GOS-BSA conjugate retains its bioactivity. The present method may also provide a way to synthesize graphene-based composites with other biomolecules.
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