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Sainz-Urruela C, Vera-López S, Díez-Pascual AM, San Andrés MP. Fluorescence study of the influence of centrifugation on graphene oxide dispersions in water and in tannic acid. SPECTROCHIMICA ACTA. PART A, MOLECULAR AND BIOMOLECULAR SPECTROSCOPY 2022; 278:121302. [PMID: 35525181 DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2022.121302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2022] [Revised: 04/20/2022] [Accepted: 04/22/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Graphene oxide (GO) is acquiring a great interest in biomedicine, biotechnology and biochemistry due to its unique properties. However, GO layers are boundbyvan der Waals forces, which results in aggregation. An efficient dispersion of the aggregated nanostructures is crucial from an application viewpoint, hence eco-friendly procedures are pursued. In this work, the potential of tannic acid (TA) as a GO dispersant in water has been investigated for the first time. Transmission electronic microscopy (TEM) was used to visualize the degree of GO exfoliation in the dispersions. To further assess TA dispersant capability, a fluorescent biomolecule, riboflavin, has been selected. GO and TA cause a quenching effect on riboflavin fluorescence, which depends on the GO and TA concentration, the GO/TA weight ratio and the final centrifugation step that was found to be crucial. Multiple regression analysis has been used to determine the quenching constants for TA and GO simultaneously. The GO-riboflavin interaction weakens upon centrifugation. This step, traditionally used to remove the nanomaterial aggregates, should be avoided to obtain a high GO concentration in the dispersions. This study paves the way towards the use of environmentally friendly dispersant agents instead of conventional organic solvents or synthetic surfactants to attain high-quality dispersions of carbon nanomaterials in water.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Sainz-Urruela
- Universidad de Alcalá, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Química Analítica, Química Física e Ingeniería Química, Ctra. Madrid-Barcelona Km. 33.6, 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
| | - Soledad Vera-López
- Universidad de Alcalá, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Química Analítica, Química Física e Ingeniería Química, Ctra. Madrid-Barcelona Km. 33.6, 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain; Universidad de Alcalá, Instituto de Investigación Química Andrés M. del Río (IQAR), Ctra. Madrid-Barcelona Km. 33.6, 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ana María Díez-Pascual
- Universidad de Alcalá, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Química Analítica, Química Física e Ingeniería Química, Ctra. Madrid-Barcelona Km. 33.6, 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain; Universidad de Alcalá, Instituto de Investigación Química Andrés M. del Río (IQAR), Ctra. Madrid-Barcelona Km. 33.6, 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
| | - María Paz San Andrés
- Universidad de Alcalá, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Química Analítica, Química Física e Ingeniería Química, Ctra. Madrid-Barcelona Km. 33.6, 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain; Universidad de Alcalá, Instituto de Investigación Química Andrés M. del Río (IQAR), Ctra. Madrid-Barcelona Km. 33.6, 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
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Shellard PM, Srisubin T, Hartmann M, Butcher J, Fei F, Cox H, McNamara TP, McArdle T, Shepherd AM, Jacobs RMJ, Waigh TA, Flitsch SL, Blanford CF. A versatile route to edge-specific modifications to pristine graphene by electrophilic aromatic substitution. JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE 2020; 55:10284-10302. [PMID: 32536720 PMCID: PMC7266800 DOI: 10.1007/s10853-020-04662-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2020] [Accepted: 04/07/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Electrophilic aromatic substitution produces edge-specific modifications to CVD graphene and graphene nanoplatelets that are suitable for specific attachment of biomolecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philippa M. Shellard
- Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL UK
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN UK
| | - Thunyaporn Srisubin
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN UK
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL UK
| | - Mirja Hartmann
- Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL UK
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN UK
| | - Joseph Butcher
- Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL UK
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN UK
| | - Fan Fei
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN UK
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL UK
| | - Henry Cox
- Biological Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL UK
- Photon Science Institute, University of Manchester, Alan Turing Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL UK
| | - Thomas P. McNamara
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN UK
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL UK
| | - Trevor McArdle
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN UK
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL UK
| | - Ashley M. Shepherd
- Chemical Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, 12 Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3TA UK
| | - Robert M. J. Jacobs
- Chemical Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, 12 Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3TA UK
| | - Thomas A. Waigh
- Biological Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL UK
- Photon Science Institute, University of Manchester, Alan Turing Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL UK
| | - Sabine L. Flitsch
- Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL UK
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN UK
| | - Christopher F. Blanford
- Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN UK
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL UK
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Ortega M, Vilhena JG, Rubio-Pereda P, Serena PA, Pérez R. Assessing the Accuracy of Different Solvation Models To Describe Protein Adsorption. J Chem Theory Comput 2019; 15:2548-2560. [PMID: 30822382 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.8b01060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
In protein adsorption, the surrounding solvent has an important role in mediating protein-surface interactions. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that the solvent methods employed to model these kinds of processes are able to correctly capture the complex mechanisms occurring in the protein-water-surface interface. Here, we test the suitability of the two most popular implicit solvent methods based on the Generalized Born formalism to describe the adsorption process of the immunoglobulin G (IgG) on a hydrophobic graphene surface. Our results show that in both cases, IgG experiences an extreme and early (in less than 40 ns) unfolding as a result of the adsorption to the surface in contrast with previous experimental findings. A detailed energy decomposition analysis of explicit and implicit solvent simulations reveals that this discrepancy arises from the ill-characterization of two energy components in implicit solvent methods. These findings help to elucidate how implicit solvent models may be improved to accurately characterize the protein adsorption process.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - J G Vilhena
- Department of Physics , University of Basel , Klingelbergstrasse 82 , CH-4056 Basel , Switzerland
| | - Pamela Rubio-Pereda
- Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM) , CSIC , c/Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz 3 , E-28049 Madrid , Spain.,Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada 3918 , 22860 Ensenada , Baja California , Mexico
| | - P A Serena
- Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM) , CSIC , c/Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz 3 , E-28049 Madrid , Spain
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Hu L, Zheng S, Chen Z, Huang B, Yang J, Chen Q. 3D graphene modified sphere-like VPO4/C as a high-performance anode material for lithium-ion batteries. Electrochim Acta 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2018.07.205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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Rubio-Pereda P, Vilhena JG, Takeuchi N, Serena PA, Pérez R. Albumin (BSA) adsorption onto graphite stepped surfaces. J Chem Phys 2017; 146:214704. [PMID: 28595417 PMCID: PMC5457296 DOI: 10.1063/1.4984037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2017] [Accepted: 05/10/2017] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Nanomaterials are good candidates for the design of novel components with biomedical applications. For example, nano-patterned substrates may be used to immobilize protein molecules in order to integrate them in biosensing units. Here, we perform long MD simulations (up to 200 ns) using an explicit solvent and physiological ion concentrations to characterize the adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) onto a nano-patterned graphite substrate. We have studied the effect of the orientation and step size on the protein adsorption and final conformation. Our results show that the protein is stable, with small changes in the protein secondary structure that are confined to the contact area and reveal the influence of nano-structuring on the spontaneous adsorption, protein-surface binding energies, and protein mobility. Although van der Waals (vdW) interactions play a dominant role, our simulations reveal the important role played by the hydrophobic lipid-binding sites of the BSA molecule in the adsorption process. The complex structure of these sites, that incorporate residues with different hydrophobic character, and their flexibility are crucial to understand the influence of the ion concentration and protein orientation in the different steps of the adsorption process. Our study provides useful information for the molecular engineering of components that require the immobilization of biomolecules and the preservation of their biological activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pamela Rubio-Pereda
- Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM), CSIC, c/ Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 3, E-28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - J G Vilhena
- Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM), CSIC, c/ Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 3, E-28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - Noboru Takeuchi
- Centro de Nanociencias y Nanotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 22800 Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
| | - Pedro A Serena
- Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM), CSIC, c/ Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 3, E-28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - Rubén Pérez
- Departamento de Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, E-28049 Madrid, Spain
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Ejigu A, Kinloch IA, Dryfe RAW. Single Stage Simultaneous Electrochemical Exfoliation and Functionalization of Graphene. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2017; 9:710-721. [PMID: 27936538 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b12868] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/14/2023]
Abstract
Development of applications for graphene are currently hampered by its poor dispersion in common, low boiling point solvents. Covalent functionalization is considered as one method for addressing this challenge. To date, approaches have tended to focus upon producing the graphene and functionalizing subsequently. Herein, we describe simultaneous electrochemical exfoliation and functionalization of graphite using diazonium salts at a single applied potential for the first time. Such an approach is advantageous, compared to postfunctionalization of premade graphene, as both functionalization and exfoliation occur at the same time, meaning that monolayer or few-layer graphene can be functionalized and stabilized in situ before they aggregate. Furthermore, the N2 generated during in situ diazonium reduction is found to aid the separation of functionalized graphene sheets. The degree of graphene functionalization was controlled by varying the concentration of the diazonium species in the exfoliation solution. The formation of functionalized graphene was confirmed using Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The functionalized graphene was soluble in aqueous systems, and its solubility was 2 orders of magnitude higher than the nonfunctionalized electrochemically exfoliated graphene sheets. Moreover, the functionalization enhanced the charge storage capacity when used as an electrode in supercapacitor devices with the specific capacitance being highly dependent on the degree of graphene functionalization. This simple method of in situ simultaneous exfoliation and functionaliztion may aid the processing of graphene for various applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andinet Ejigu
- School of Chemistry, ‡School of Materials, and §National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester , Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, U.K
| | - Ian A Kinloch
- School of Chemistry, ‡School of Materials, and §National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester , Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, U.K
| | - Robert A W Dryfe
- School of Chemistry, ‡School of Materials, and §National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester , Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, U.K
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