Abstract
Advances in materials science are an outcome of novel technologies that emerge from amalgamation of known components. In this arena, hydrogels are a promising material for a series of biomedical and biological applications and can simulate human’s soft tissues, due to their unique 3D matrix, flexibility and high water content. Interestingly, graphene quantum dots can be used as reinforcing agents to alter the mechanical properties of hydrogels. Hybrid hydrogels are used because of flexibility, biocompatible nature and the ease of fabrication, as well as their wide range of mechanical, chemical, thermal and electrical behaviours, when combined with different materials as composites. The structural combination of a polymer network with graphene quantum dots, highly biocompatible carbon-based nanomaterial, can be utilized for biomedical applications like wound healing, drug delivery, antibacterial, bioimaging and tissue engineering. Furthermore, this mixing may result in synergistic property enhancement of each component. The combination of properties imparted by both hydrogels and their nanocomposites can pave new horizons in therapeutics. The unique electronic structure of GQDs confers advantages such as tunable photoluminescence properties for bioimaging, enhancing the loading capacity of aromatic drug molecules for drug delivery and supporting stem cell differentiation for tissue engineering applications. In this chapter, we systematically delineate the recent advances in GQD hydrogel composites with a focus on their synthesis, applications and future perspectives.
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Authors are thankful to Amity Institute of Click Chemistry Research and Studies (AICCRS), Amity University Uttar Pradesh (AUUP), Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201313, India, for providing research infrastructure.
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Sangam, S., Garg, P., Sanyal, T., Pahari, S., Khurana, S.M.P., Mukherjee, M. (2022). Graphene Quantum Dots and Their Hybrid Hydrogels: A Multifaceted Platform for Theranostic Applications. In: Thakur, A., Thakur, P., Khurana, S.P. (eds) Synthesis and Applications of Nanoparticles. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6819-7_20
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