title: Surface engineering of graphene-based nanomaterials for biomedical applications.
abstract: Graphene-based nanomaterials have attracted tremendous interest over the past decade due to their unique electronic, optical, mechanical, and chemical properties. However, the biomedical applications of these intriguing nanomaterials are still limited due to their suboptimal solubility/biocompatibility, potential toxicity, and difficulties in achieving active tumor targeting, just to name a few. In this Topical Review, we will discuss in detail the important role of surface engineering (i.e., bioconjugation) in improving the in vitro/in vivo stability and enriching the functionality of graphene-based nanomaterials, which can enable single/multimodality imaging (e.g., optical imaging, positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging) and therapy (e.g., photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, and drug/gene delivery) of cancer. Current challenges and future research directions are also discussed and we believe that graphene-based nanomaterials are attractive nanoplatforms for a broad array of future biomedical applications.
authors.affiliation: Materials Science Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison , Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States.
authors.forename: Sixiang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Emily B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Ehlerding
authors.forename: Weibo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D035843:Biomedical Research; D002616:Chemical Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D006108:Graphite