Graphene, the 2-dimensional, single layered Carbon material, since its isolation and discovery by researchers Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, has proved to be a Game Changer in the research and development of nanomaterials. Graphene’s dynamic nature gives extremely versatile advantages to almost every industry from the manufacturing of airplanes to making medical sensors, from the filtration membranes for air and water to providing strong antimicrobial properties for textiles. It further also gives superlative energy storage upgrade to batteries, supercapacitors, and hybrids.
The most well known property of Graphene is that it is one of the strongest materials known till date. It is only one atom thick, i.e. thousand times thinner than human hair, has strong antimicrobial activity, high electron mobility & thermal conductivity at room temperature along with high flexibility.
Graphene, due to its strong antimicrobial activity, has emerged as a blessing during the flare-up of Coronavirus (COVID 19).
Graphene, a monolayer of carbon atoms, forms dense honeycomb structures that can be functionalized with hydroxyl, carboxylic and epoxide functional groups on both the surface of the graphene sheet and the edges give amazing tuneable advantage to this particular nano-material. Moreover, it has unique properties including large surface area (3000 m2/gm), good mechanical properties, and anti-microbial activity.
Graphene’s anti-microbial mechanism could involve direct contact (due to damage caused by electrically charged and the sharp edge structure) and/or oxidative stress (produced by reactive oxygen species created by Graphene).
The incorporation of graphene into textiles (cotton, polyester, nylon) as coatings improves the conductivity, resulting in anti-static properties. Graphene’s hydrophobicity limits the adhesion and growth of microbes on the surface of fabrics. Therefore, it helps in producing an antimicrobial textile, not only limiting microorganism’s settlement on the surface but also representing a clean and dry surface. Due to this ability, it becomes an important material in medical applications.
After rigorous research & development, graphene’s unique synthesis with silver nanomaterials was invented and it showed strong anti-viral and anti-bacterial activity. The atomically sharp edges of graphene act as nano-knives and damage the outer wall of microbes. On the other hand, silver nanoparticles produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) in oxidative conditions, which have the ability to attack external enzymes and proteins leading to irreversible damages to the genetic material of viruses and bacteria.
These graphene sheets also give Silver Ions the extra edge to kill bacteria and Viruses due to an extra pair of the electron over sp2 hybridized carbon atoms. This combination makes the grapheme-silver membrane unique and much more effective against micro-organisms. The Graphene Silver Nanocomposite is a non-alcoholic solution, which can be applied to any kind of textile without changing the conventional production methods.
The Graphene-Silver Technology could be used as an alternative anti-biofilm agent without the adverse effects of microbial resistance, more frequently attributed to antibiotics, disinfectants, and other conventional agents. Most importantly, unlike common disinfectants, this coating doesn’t lose its activity with time because of its unique nano-architectural properties.
The effect of Graphene-Silver Technology is to destroy coronaviruses that come in contact with the membrane. When tested as per the ISO 18184 protocol, Anti-viral testing against the SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) virus, showed a 99.% reduction and kill rate of 99% in just a matter of seconds.
During this pandemic, a major concern is the safety of health workers and they need to be provided a high quality of protective equipment. Keeping this in mind researchers have come up with the solution of incorporating Graphene into the medical equipment such as masks, gloves, and gowns for medical staff. The coating of Graphene in these would limit the virus transmission danger by killing the virus 99% in seconds.
Furthermore, some of the companies have come up with different researches with Graphene-based equipment for the use in detecting and fighting coronavirus.
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