The Many Faces of Graphene as Protection Barrier. Performance under Microbial Corrosion and Ni Allergy Conditions

Abstract

In this work we present a study on the performance of CVD (chemical vapor deposition) graphene coatings grown and transferred on Ni as protection barriers under two scenarios that lead to unwanted metal ion release, microbial corrosion and allergy test conditions. These phenomena have a strong impact in different fields considering nickel (or its alloys) is one of the most widely used metals in industrial and consumer products. Microbial corrosion costs represent fractions of national gross product in different developed countries, whereas Ni allergy is one of the most prevalent allergic conditions in the western world, affecting around 10% of the population. We found that grown graphene coatings act as a protective membrane in biological environments that decreases microbial corrosion of Ni and reduces release of Ni2+ ions (source of Ni allergic contact hypersensitivity) when in contact with sweat. This performance seems not to be connected to the strong orbital hybridization that Ni and graphene interface present, indicating electron transfer might not be playing a main role in the robust response of this nanostructured system. The observed protection from biological environment can be understood in terms of graphene impermeability to transfer Ni2+ ions, which is enhanced for few layers of graphene grown on Ni. We expect our work will provide a new route for application of graphene as a protection coating for metals in biological environments, where current strategies have shown short-term efficiency and have raised health concerns.

Inhibition of Wild Enterobacter cloacae Biofilm Formation by Nanostructured Graphene- and Hexagonal Boron Nitride-Coated Surfaces

“…Commercial single-layer h-BN grown on Cu foil were used for this study (Graphene Supermarket, Calverton, NY, USA). The PMMA (Polymethyl methacrylate)-assisted transfer method was used in order to obtain transferred graphene and h-BN on glass [36] (See supplementary Figure S1). All graphene and h-BN samples used in this study were 1 cm 2 in area.…”

“…Recently, a new generation of graphene-like two-dimensional materials with an atomic structure similar to graphene, but different chemical composition and properties, have attracted widespread attention [35]. One of them, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), has shown similar biological performance to SLG under microbial corrosion conditions [36]. h-BN is composed of boron and nitrogen atoms in a honeycomb arrangement, consisting of sp 2 -bonded two dimensional layers [37].…”

Interactions Between 2D Materials and Living Matter: A Review on Graphene and Hexagonal Boron Nitride Coatings

“…Graphene and hBN coatings have shown to be ion impermeable barriers due to their reduced lattice size, which is smaller than the bacteria and their metabolites thus creating a physical barrier that prevents the bacteria from interacting, and consequently corroding the underlying substrate. Parra et al (2015c , 2017) have shown that this mechanism is effective in controlling MIC in Cu and Ni substrates. Zurob et al (2019) studied the effect of graphene and hBN coatings on a wild Gram- Enterobacter cloacae strain biofilm.…”

“…Graphene and hBN have been recently found to induce specific cellular responses in different contexts. Taking into consideration the issues related to bacterial infection and the relevance of degenerative diseases, the different biological interactions of these materials can be exploited toward the following aims: (1) inducing bacterial cell death, e.g., to design medical instruments and mitigate the spreading of infections in hospital environment, and to produce anti-biofouling coatings ( Parra et al, 2015c , 2017 ; Zurob et al, 2019 ); (2) stimulating cellular growth, such as in the case of tissue engineering, wound healing, and bone tissue regeneration ( Fernandes et al, 2019 ; Şen et al, 2019 ; Aki et al, 2020 ). Devices such as epidermal electronics, intra-cortical implants for sensing and brain tissue regeneration require intimate contact with biological systems.…”

Low-Temperature CVD Graphene Nanostructures on Cu and Their Corrosion Properties

“…On the other hand, graphene as an oxidation and corrosion resistive coating is of great interests recently [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. For the oxidation resistance, Chen et al showed this property of graphene-coated copper (Cu) and Cu/nickel (Ni) alloy against annealing at 200 °C in air [ 23 ].…”