New routes to the functionalization patterning and manufacture of graphene-based materials for biomedical applications

Abstract

Graphene-based materials are being widely explored for a range of biomedical applications, from targeted drug delivery to biosensing, bioimaging and use for antibacterial treatments, to name but a few. In many such applications, it is not graphene itself that is used as the active agent, but one of its chemically functionalized forms. The type of chemical species used for functionalization will play a key role in determining the utility of any graphene-based device in any particular biomedical application, because this determines to a large part its physical, chemical, electrical and optical interactions. However, other factors will also be important in determining the eventual uptake of graphene-based biomedical technologies, in particular the ease and cost of manufacture of proposed device and system designs. In this work, we describe three novel routes for the chemical functionalization of graphene using oxygen, iron chloride and fluorine. We also introduce novel in situ methods for controlling and patterning such functionalization on the micro- and nanoscales. Our approaches are readily transferable to large-scale manufacturing, potentially paving the way for the eventual cost-effective production of functionalized graphene-based materials, devices and systems for a range of important biomedical applications.