Graphene and its derivatives as biomedical materials: future prospects and challenges

Abstract

Graphene and its derivatives possess some intriguing properties, which generates tremendous interests in various fields, including biomedicine. The biomedical applications of graphene-based nanomaterials have attracted great interests over the last decade, and several groups have started working on this field around the globe. Because of the excellent biocompatibility, solubility and selectivity, graphene and its derivatives have shown great potential as biosensing and bio-imaging materials. Also, due to some unique physico-chemical properties of graphene and its derivatives, such as large surface area, high purity, good bio-functionalizability, easy solubility, high drug loading capacity, capability of easy cell membrane penetration, etc., graphene-based nanomaterials become promising candidates for bio-delivery carriers. Besides, graphene and its derivatives have also shown interesting applications in the fields of cell-culture, cell-growth and tissue engineering. In this article, a comprehensive review on the applications of graphene and its derivatives as biomedical materials has been presented. The unique properties of graphene and its derivatives (such as graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, graphane, graphone, graphyne, graphdiyne, fluorographene and their doped versions) have been discussed, followed by discussions on the recent efforts on the applications of graphene and its derivatives in biosensing, bio-imaging, drug delivery and therapy, cell culture, tissue engineering and cell growth. Also, the challenges involved in the use of graphene and its derivatives as biomedical materials are discussed briefly, followed by the future perspectives of the use of graphene-based nanomaterials in bio-applications. The review will provide an outlook to the applications of graphene and its derivatives, and may open up new horizons to inspire broader interests across various disciplines.

Exploring Graphene and MoS2 Chips Based Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensors for Diagnostic Applications

“…In rGO, the number of oxygen function groups is less than GO. Reduced GO can be considered as an intermediate structure between a pristine graphene and a highly oxidized GO, thus retaining some and losing some of the other properties of the two materials (Reina et al, 2017 ; Banerjee, 2018 ). Their interlayer distance was reduced from 7.9 Å on GO to 3.4 Å on rGO (Kitayama et al, 2019 ).…”

Applications of Graphene and Its Derivatives in the Upstream Oil and Gas Industry: A Systematic Review

“…At the same time, due to the introduction of oxygen-containing functional groups, the large π conjugate structure of graphene is destroyed, so the ability of conducting electrons is lost, and the conductivity is obviously reduced. Most of the oxygen-containing groups in reduced graphene oxide were removed, and the C/O ratio increased significantly, therefore, it turns from being hydrophilic to hydrophobic [11][12][13][14].…”

Recent advances in the catalytic applications of GO/rGO for green organic synthesis

“…It is the basic building block of other carbon allotropes, and graphene can be wrapped to create 0D fullerenes, rolled up to form 1D CNTs and stacked to make 3D graphite [22]. It has excellent thermal, optical and mechanical properties that indicate its potential candidacy for many applications [23,24]. Other expectional properties comprise superior thermal conductivity (∼5,000 W/m/K) [25], high planar surface (2,630 m 2 /g) [26], ultrahigh electron mobility (2,00,000 cm 2 V −1 s −1 ) [27], superlative mechanical strength (Young's modulus, ∼1,100 GPa) [28] and outstanding electronic properties [29,30] which bestow graphene with great application prospects in a number of fields [31][32][33].…”