Degradation-by-design: how chemical functionalization enhances the biodegradability and safety of 2D materials

Abstract

A large number of graphene and other 2D materials are currently explored for the development of new technologies. The assessment of their biodegradability is one of the fundamental aspects for their safe application.

Graphene and its Derivatives for Bone Tissue Engineering: In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of Graphene-Based Scaffolds, Membranes and Coatings

“…The degradation products from graphene have not been shown to cause substantial cell damage, however, the in vivo retention period may be associated with several pathological changes ( Mukherjee et al, 2018 ; Daneshmandi et al, 2021 ). The enzymatic environment as well as specific chemical modifications are available to regulate the rate of degradation and thus reduce the potential of graphene-induced cytotoxicity ( Palmieri et al, 2019 ; Ma et al, 2020 ; Peng et al, 2020 ).…”

Recent Advances in Immunosafety and Nanoinformatics of Two-Dimensional Materials Applied to Nano-imaging

“…As far as it is known, 2D materials have proven their significance and innovation perspective in almost all industrial areas and sectors, making it imperative to assess their environmental health risks and safety aspects (24,(103)(104)(105). However, toxicological studies, including immunotoxicity, are still in their infancy for GBMs and 2D inorganic materials (31).…”

“…Given the applicability and growing interests in 2D materials, unveiling their impact on the immune system is a key step towards safe use and responsible innovation (21,22). These materials' intrinsic characteristics, such as chemical composition, surface chemistry, functionalization, morphology, lateral size, purity, and crystallinity are directed related to their degradability, dispersion stability, and protein corona profile; hence, their adverse effects in a biological system (23)(24)(25)(26). Such parameters modulate the biotransformation and biodistribution of 2D materials under in vitro and in vivo models, influencing their interaction with the immune system, fate, and toxicological profile (27)(28)(29)(30).…”

“…Biocompatibility, biodegradability, and eliciting an adequate biological effect in the organisms are crucial to the applicability of 2D materials (22,24,31). Indeed, the complexity of toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic events of 2D materials under physiological conditions associated with a lack of harmonized protocols for experimental research represents majors challenges for clinical translation and safety regulation involving these emerging materials (32)(33)(34)(35).…”

Conductive Metal-Organic Frameworks for Amperometric Sensing of Paracetamol

“…However, it is not suitable for the rapid detection of PA in daily life due to the complex pretreatment, large equipment, time-consuming and expensive of these existing detection methods. On the contrary, electrochemical methods have the advantages of being simple and convenient, highly sensitive, quickly responsive, low in cost and highly selective (Yan et al, 2019;Yuan et al, 2019Yuan et al, , 2020Ma et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2020). In addition, PA is an electroactive substance that is prone to electrochemical oxidation, so the detection of PA by electrochemical sensors has aroused great interest.…”