biostudies-literatureFu WSwiss National Science FoundationShanghai Institute of Higher LearningAlexander von Humboldt-StiftungDutch Research Council (NWO)e1701247https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC5656418biostudies-literatureUnknown3(10)Over the past decade, the richness of electronic properties of graphene has attracted enormous interest for electrically detecting chemical and biological species using this two-dimensional material. However, the creation of practical graphene electronic sensors greatly depends on our ability to understand and maintain a low level of electronic noise, the fundamental reason limiting the sensor resolution. Conventionally, to reach the largest sensing response, graphene transistors are operated at the point of maximum transconductance, where 1/<i>f</i> noise is found to be unfavorably high and poses a major limitation in any attempt to further improve the device sensitivity. We show that operating a graphene transistor in an ambipolar mode near its neutrality point can markedly reduce the 1/<i>f</i> noise in graphene. Remarkably, our data reveal that this reduction in the electronic noise is achieved with uncompromised sensing response of the graphene chips and thus significantly improving the signal-to-noise ratio-compared to that of a conventionally operated graphene transistor for conductance measurement. As a proof-of-concept demonstration of the usage of the aforementioned new sensing scheme to a broader range of biochemical sensing applications, we selected an HIV-related DNA hybridization as the test bed and achieved detections at picomolar concentrations.Science advancesBiosensing near the neutrality point of graphene.PMC5656418award329521154557award329522award329523award329524722.014.004P300P2_154557TP2016023Feng LOffenhausser AFu WMayer DKireev DKrause HJPanaitov GfalseBiosensing near the neutrality point of graphene.Over the past decade, the richness of electronic properties of graphene has attracted enormous interest for electrically detecting chemical and biological species using this two-dimensional material. However, the creation of practical graphene electronic sensors greatly depends on our ability to understand and maintain a low level of electronic noise, the fundamental reason limiting the sensor resolution. Conventionally, to reach the largest sensing response, graphene transistors are operated at the point of maximum transconductance, where 1/<i>f</i> noise is found to be unfavorably high and poses a major limitation in any attempt to further improve the device sensitivity. We show that operating a graphene transistor in an ambipolar mode near its neutrality point can markedly reduce the 1/<i>f</i> noise in graphene. Remarkably, our data reveal that this reduction in the electronic noise is achieved with uncompromised sensing response of the graphene chips and thus significantly improving the signal-to-noise ratio-compared to that of a conventionally operated graphene transistor for conductance measurement. As a proof-of-concept demonstration of the usage of the aforementioned new sensing scheme to a broader range of biochemical sensing applications, we selected an HIV-related DNA hybridization as the test bed and achieved detections at picomolar concentrations.2017-01-01T00:00:00Z2017 Oct2026-05-05T22:34:17.158Z2019-03-27T02:59:54ZS-EPMC56564182907566910.1126/sciadv.1701247