Gritty Graphene

Graphene: The gritty nanomaterial

Over the past few weeks, we have looked at various different nanomaterials that can serve as possible candidates for implants; from hydroxylapatite to silk, all these materials can be used to make significant upgrades on the current titanium implants in the medical field today. In this post, we will be looking at another nanomaterial - this time however, the nanomaterial is completely composed of carbon. Graphene will be the focus of this post today, as graphene is an extremely strong yet extremely thin material, as mentioned in the blog Graphene Mining. Graphene Mining goes on to mention that graphene is about 10 times stronger than titanium - you can check that out, along with some other interesting facts about graphene over here. Due to this fact and its size, graphene presents itself as another innovation in the field of implants.

An interesting article found by Graphene Mining talks about Mark Cheng, a scientist who wants to study the use of graphene as a material of implants.

New research aims to use Graphene to build better neural implants to treat blindness, spinal cord injury, etc. bit.ly/TBYLUE #greg
— Graphene Mining (@Chemblue1) December 2, 2012

Cheng is researching the possibility of neural implants made of graphene. The one important aspect of neural implants is the ability to send and receive electrical impulses, as neural implants are going to be used in the brain. Current implants, which are made of a combination of titanium and plastic as mentioned here (link), do not conduct electricity very well. Graphene, however, is an extremely good conductor of electricity, and this can be seen with some EChem (or electrochemistry). At the Harbin Engineering University, researchers have demonstrated the conductivity of graphene by producing a manganese dioxide-graphene composite through the following redox reaction.


The redox reaction used in the experiment.

Along with dissipating greater charge, graphene is also extremely thin and small, making it a lot easier to implant. With every innovation, there is a setback, and in this situation, graphene’s flexibility impedes it from being extremely effective. Graphene’s flexiblity makes it more difficult to implant into the cranium. Cheng, however, has devised an interesting solution; he suggests the use of a silicon backbone to make it easier to implant the graphene into the brain.

Graphene presents itself as an interesting alternative for neural implants. This follows from its flexibility, strength, conductivity, and size. This post, of course, could not have been possible without the blog Graphene Mining. Once again, take a look at their blog over here. Also, stay tuned for a post on their blog about nanoimplants as well. See you soon!