Hydrogenated graphene improves neuronal network maturation and excitatory transmission Moschetta, Matteo Lee, Jong-Young Rodrigues, João Podestà, Alice Varvicchio, Omar Son, Jangyup Lee, Yangjin Kim, Kwanpyo Lee, Gwan-Hyoung Benfenati, Fabio Bramini, Mattia Capasso, Andrea 2D Materials Hydrogenation Hydrophilicity This work was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement Grant Agreement No. 785219—Graphene Flagship—Core2 and Ministero degli Affari Esteri e Cooperazione Internazionale of Italy (Farnesina – MAECI) (Grant No. EPNZ0082). M.B. acknowledges supports from the EU Graphene Flagship-Core2 (Grant Agreement No. 785219) and the MSCA-COFUND Athenea3i scheme under the Grant Agreement No. 754446. J.S. acknowledges the support of the grant by the KIST Institution Programs (2Z06030, 2K02420). Y.L. and K.K. acknowledge support from the Institute for Basic Science (IBS-R026-D1). G.H.L. acknowledges supports from Basic Science Research Program and the International Research & Development Program through the NRF of Korea (2016M3A7B4910940, 2019K1A3A1A25000267) and Creative-Pioneering Researchers Program through Seoul National University (SNU). A.C. acknowledges the support of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska–Curie grant agreement No. 713640. Graphene is regarded as a viable bio-interface for neuroscience due to its biocompatibility and electrical conductivity, which would contribute to efficient neuronal network signaling. Here, monolayer graphene grown via chemical vapor deposition is treated with remote hydrogen plasma to demonstrate that hydrogenated graphene (HGr) fosters improved cell-to-cell communication with respect to pristine graphene in primary cortical neurons. When transferred to polyethylene terephthalate, HGr exhibits higher wettability than graphene (water contact angle of 83.7° vs 40.7°), while preserving electrical conductivity (≈3 kΩ □-1). A rich and mature network is observed to develop onto HGr. The intrinsic excitability and firing properties of neurons plated onto HGr appears unaltered, while the basic passive and active membrane properties are fully preserved. The formation of excitatory synaptic connections increases in HGr with respect to pristine graphene, leading to a doubled miniature excitatory postsynaptic current frequency. This study supports the use of hydrogenation for tailoring graphene into an improved neuronal interface, indicating that wettability, more than electrical conductivity, is the key parameter to be controlled. The use of HGr can bring about a deeper understanding of neuronal behavior on artificial bio-interfaces and provide new insight for graphene-based biomedical applications. 2026-02-13T12:59:18Z 2026-02-13T12:59:18Z 2020 journal article Published version: Moschetta, Matteo et al. Hydrogenated Graphene Improves Neuronal Network Maturation and Excitatory Transmission. Advanced biology 2021, 5, 2000177. https://doi.org/10.1002/adbi.202000177 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/110987 10.1002/adbi.202000177 eng info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/785219 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/MSC/713640 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Wiley