Graphene is a monolayer of tightly packed carbon atoms that possesses many interesting properties and has numerous exciting applications. In this work, we report the antibacterial activity of two waterdispersible graphene derivatives, graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets. Such graphene-based nanomaterials can effectively inhibit the growth of E. coli bacteria while showing minimal cytotoxicity. We have also demonstrated that macroscopic freestanding GO and rGO paper can be conveniently fabricated from their suspension via simple vacuum filtration. Given the superior antibacterial effect of GO and the fact that GO can be mass-produced and easily processed to make freestanding and flexible paper with low cost, we expect this new carbon nanomaterial may find important environmental and clinical applications.

Coupling nanomaterials with biomolecular recognition events represents a new direction in nanotechnology toward the development of novel molecular diagnostic tools. Here a graphene oxide (GO)‐based multicolor fluorescent DNA nanoprobe that allows rapid, sensitive, and selective detection of DNA targets in homogeneous solution by exploiting interactions between GO and DNA molecules is reported. Because of the extraordinarily high quenching efficiency of GO, the fluorescent ssDNA probe exhibits minimal background fluorescence, while strong emission is observed when it forms a double helix with the specific targets, leading to a high signal‐to‐background ratio. Importantly, the large planar surface of GO allows simultaneous quenching of multiple DNA probes labeled with different dyes, leading to a multicolor sensor for the detection of multiple DNA targets in the same solution. It is also demonstrated that this GO‐based sensing platform is suitable for the detection of a range of analytes when complemented with the use of functional DNA structures.

A facile hydrothermal synthesis route to N and S, N co-doped graphene quantum dots (GQDs) was developed by using citric acid as the C source and urea or thiourea as N and S sources. Both N and S, N doped GQDs showed high quantum yield (78% and 71%), excitation independent under excitation of 340-400 nm and single exponential decay under UV excitation. A broad absorption band in the visible region appeared in S, N co-doped GQDs due to doping with sulfur, which alters the surface state of GQDs. However, S, N co-doped GQDs show different color emission under excitation of 420-520 nm due to their absorption in the visible region. The excellent photocatalytic performance of the S, N co-doped GQD/TiO2 composites was demonstrated by degradation of rhodamine B under visible light. The apparent rate of S, N:GQD/TiO2 is 3 and 10 times higher than that of N:GQD/TiO2 and P25 TiO2 under visible light irradiation, respectively.