Ultra-High Signal Detection of Human Embryonic Stem Cells Driven by Two-Dimensional Materials

We observed a unique bioelectric signal of human embryonic stem cells using direct current–voltage measurements facilitated by few-layered 2D-MoS2 sheets. A 1.828 mA cell signal was achieved (2 orders of magnitude higher than previous electrical-based detection methods) as well as multiple cell reading cycles demonstrating I ∼ 1.9 mA. Native stem cell proliferation, viability, and pluripotency were preserved. Molecular dynamics simulations elucidated the origin of the 2D-MoS2 sheet-assisted increase in current flow. This paves the way for the development of a broadly applicable, fast, and damage-free stem cell detection method capable of identifying pluripotency with virtually any complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor circuits.