An Investigation on the Optimisation Technique of Graphene Oxide Synthesis for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Graphene Oxide (GO) demonstrates various properties suitable for a plethora of applications. Till now the most common method for GO synthesis has been Hummers method. Yet this method has many disadvantages like risk of explosion, inability to scale up etc. Hence, here we have used Marcano’s synthesis method with few modifications such as reduction in initial quantity of graphite, duration of heat treatment and decreasing the number of filtration steps. Further, we analysed the effect of a range of graphite concentrations as the reactant on the yield of GO synthesized. We characterized the GO by UV-Vis spectrophotometry, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) analysis, X-Ray Diffraction and Raman Spectroscopy techniques. X-Ray Diffraction and Raman analyzes identified the nanostructured GO. UV-Vis Spectroscopy confirmed the formation of GO by showing the characteristic peak close to 230nm. FESEM imaging showed the formation of both two-dimensional and three-dimensional GO nanostructures. Suitability for biomedical applications of the synthesized GO was also analyzed by experiments such as hemolytic assay and its effects on bacterial growth. It was found that at higher concentration of GO, hemolysis was induced in a dose-dependent manner and it was within 10% as compared to Triton-X detergent. Moreover, GO was found to enhance the growth of both E.coli and P. aeruginosa in a concentration-dependent manner.