Convection-based realtime polymerase chain reaction (PCR) utilizing transparent graphene heaters

We present a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) chip incorporating graphene heaters and thermal convection. We adopted graphene heaters in order to replace the bulky metal heating blocks or opaque metal line heaters utilized in the previous PCR chips. Transparency of the CVD based graphene heaters allowed the realtime fluorescence detection of PCR product using a light-path passing through a reaction chamber. Thermal convection enabled rapid and automated PCR thermocycling.