Nanographene oxide interacting with bacteria, TEM

  • Izzat Suffian, Kuo-Ching Mei, Houmam Kafa & Khuloud T. Al-Jamal
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Nanographene oxide interacting with bacteria, TEM. Izzat Suffian, Kuo-Ching Mei, Houmam Kafa & Khuloud T. Al-Jamal. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.

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False-coloured transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of nanographene oxide sheets (orange/brown; background) interacting with a single rod shaped bacterium (purple/green; foreground). Graphene is a 2-dimensional sheet of carbon one atom thick, and has been described as a wonder material as it is one of the thinnest, strongest materials so far discovered and conducts electricity more efficiently than copper. Nanographene oxide represents nano-sized graphene sheets in which carbon atoms are linked to oxygen functional groups. It can be prepared by subjecting graphite to a series of oxidative reactions. Length of bacterium is approximately 2 micrometres. Nanographene is a nanocarrier platform. It has a high surface area that allows attachment of multiple drugs, targeting and imaging molecules, and can be used to target more than one cell type e.g. a mammalian cancer cell or a bacterial cell. It is being researched for its ability to kill bacteria e.g. by encapsulating anti-microbial drugs or by absorbing near infra-red light and converting it to heat (photo-thermal therapy).

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