title: Two-dimensional graphene analogues for biomedical applications.
abstract: The increasing demand of clinical biomedicine and fast development of nanobiotechnology has substantially promoted the generation of a variety of organic/inorganic nanosystems for biomedical applications. Biocompatible two-dimensional (2D) graphene analogues (e.g., nanosheets of transition metal dichalcogenides, transition metal oxides, g-C3N4, Bi2Se3, BN, etc.), which are referred to as 2D-GAs, have emerged as a new unique family of nanomaterials that show unprecedented advantages and superior performances in biomedicine due to their unique compositional, structural and physicochemical features. In this review, we summarize the state-of-the-art progress of this dynamically developed material family with a particular focus on biomedical applications. After the introduction, the second section of the article summarizes a range of synthetic methods for new types of 2D-GAs as well as their surface functionalization. The subsequent section provides a snapshot on the use of these biocompatible 2D-GAs for a broad spectrum of biomedical applications, including therapeutic (photothermal/photodynamic therapy, chemotherapy and synergistic therapy), diagnostic (fluorescent/magnetic resonance/computed tomography/photoacoustic imaging) and theranostic (concurrent diagnostic imaging and therapy) applications, especially on oncology. In addition, we briefly present the biosensing applications of these 2D-GAs for the detection of biomacromolecules and their in vitro/in vivo biosafety evaluations. The last section summarizes some critical unresolved issues, possible challenges/obstacles and also proposes future perspectives related to the rational design and construction of 2D-GAs for biomedical engineering, which are believed to promote their clinical translations for benefiting the personalized medicine and human health.
authors.affiliation: Nanomaterials Center, School of Chemical Engineering and AIBN, University of Queensland, Queensland, 4072, Australia. l.wang@uq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chaoliang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Lianzhou
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D006108:Graphite