A fluorescence based cholesterol detection method has been developed using competitive host-guest interaction between graphene bound β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) with rhodamine 6G (R6G) and cholesterol. Fluorescence of β-CD incorporated R6G is quenched by graphene but is 'turned on' by cholesterol as it replaces R6G from the β-CD host.
Although graphene based drug delivery has gained significant recent interest, the synthesis of colloidal graphene based nanocarriers with high drug loading capacities and with targeting ligands at the outer surface is a challenging issue. We have synthesized carbohydrate coated and folate functionalized colloidal graphene which can be used as a nanocarrier for a wide variety of hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs. The synthesized colloidal graphene is loaded with paclitaxol, camptothecin, doxorubicin, curcumin and used for their targeted delivery to cancer cells. We demonstrate that this drug loaded functional graphene nanocarrier can successfully deliver drugs into target cells and offers an enhanced therapeutic performance. The reported approach can be extended to the cellular delivery of other hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs and the simultaneous delivery of multiple drugs.
Preparation of a
noble metal–graphene nanocomposite (MGN)-based
clean and stable catalyst with uniform distribution of ultrafine nanoparticles
can greatly improve the performance of fuel cells. Here, we show that
surfactant-free MGNs for different noble metals can be prepared for
high-performance fuel cell catalysis by the reaction of respective
ultrasmall colloidal metal oxide/hydroxides with partially reduced
colloidal graphene oxide. The resultant MGN is composed of highly
dispersed M–M+n
based nanoparticles
of ultrasmall size and produces a strong and stable catalytic current
for ethanol and formic acid oxidation.
The scarcity of pure water has become a global and major concern because of rapid industrialization in modern and exponentially populated civilization. No life can exist without water, and contamination-free water for the whole ecosystem is a primary demand. Therefore, the enhanced rate of water contamination and the infliction of living beings are considered to be challenging issues. It attracts great attention in the scientific community when water pollution by multifarious endocrine disruptors (EDs) such as plasticizers, herbicides, insecticides, pharmaceutical and personal care products, and food additives and sweeteners, which are discharged from industries, reach water resources, and finally appear in drinking water, is involved. The chemical contaminants of EDs disturb the functions of glands from where hormones or juices are secreted and mix with blood directly. Their persistence results in adverse toxic effects in all living beings, for example, declining reproduction, endometriosis, cancer, and many more diseases. These are not easily mineralized or removed from water compared to various organic dye molecules because of their typical characteristic light absorption in the UV region. Therefore, it is very urgent to mineralize wastewater from such types of contaminants. Among the existing technologies, visible-light-triggered photocatalytic degradation is accredited as cost-effective, renewable, and environmentally friendly. Besides, the utilization of cheap visible light as a driving force with strong mineralization efficiency under facile reaction conditions and no harmful end products enables it to have a more beneficial effect. This review describes different classes of EDs, their adverse toxic effects, and efficient degradation through remarkable active nanomaterials/nanocomposites reported from 2015 to 2020. The detailed mechanisms of pollutant adsorption on the nanostructure surface and their decomposition actions have been interpreted. Also, different pollutant degradation pathways have been attentively considered and well-explained. Besides, the future outlook has been elucidated at the end.
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