Experimental and molecular dynamics study of graphene oxide quantum dots interaction with solvents and its aggregation mechanism

Low-dimensionality carbon-based biosensors: the new era of emerging technologies in bioanalytical chemistry

Since the last decade, carbon nanomaterials have had a notable impact on different fields such as bioimaging, drug delivery, artificial tissue engineering, and biosensors. This is due to their good compatibility toward a wide range of chemical to biological molecules, low toxicity, and tunable properties. Especially for biosensor technology, the characteristic features of each dimensionality of carbon-based materials may influence the performance and viability of their use. Surface area, porous network, hybridization, functionalization, synthesis route, the combination of dimensionalities, purity levels, and the mechanisms underlying carbon nanomaterial interactions influence their applications in bioanalytical chemistry. Efforts are being made to fully understand how nanomaterials can influence biological interactions, to develop commercially viable biosensors, and to gain knowledge on the biomolecular processes associated with carbon. Here, we present a comprehensive review highlighting the characteristic features of the dimensionality of carbon-based materials in biosensing.

Aggregation behavior of partially contacted graphene sheets in six-carbon alkanes: all-atom molecular dynamics simulation

Molecular dynamics simulations are used to investigate the aggregation of the cross-contacted and non-cross-contacted graphene sheets in n-hexane, 2,3-dimethylbutane, and cyclohexane solvents. The results show that the main driving force of the graphene aggregation is the interaction between the graphene sheets, and the interaction between solvent molecules also contributes to the aggregation slightly. The initial graphene configurations and the solvent molecule structures both have effects on the graphene aggregation speed. Specifically, the cross-contacted graphene sheets aggregate faster than the non-cross-contacted configuration, since the interaction between the graphene sheets is larger and the direction of this interaction is conducive to pushing away the solvent molecules adsorbed on the graphene surface. The graphene aggregation speed is larger in n-hexane mainly since the mobility of the solvent molecules is higher than the other two solvents, while the interaction between graphenes/solvents has little influence for the systems used in this work. This work provides useful insights into the graphene aggregation in the solvents with different initial graphene configurations and solvent molecule structures.