Study of Anticancer Properties of Graphene Oxide–Metal Oxide Composite

Abstract

Graphene and graphene oxide (GO) have garnered significant attention due to their exceptional properties. GO, enriched with various functional groups such as epoxy, hydroxyl, and carboxylic groups, has exhibited remarkable potential in biomedical applications. The combination of GO with metals has proven to be a promising platform for cellular imaging, with this study focusing on the preparation of diverse hybrids of GO with metal oxides (GO/MO) and their potential as anticancer agents. In this research, GO is functionalized with MOs like TiO2, Fe3O4, and Cu2O using specific chemical methods and investigated for the anticancer activity for the application as cancer therapeutic agent. The resulting GO/MO hybrids exhibits favorable thermal and mechanical properties. Moreover, their cytotoxicity against human lung cancer cells is assessed in vitro, revealing the promising anticancer activity of GO/MO hybrids. Notably, the GO/Cu2O hybrid demonstrates particularly high cytotoxicity in human lung cancer cells.