Carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) are emerging as materials of interest in biological applications such as, drug delivery, and tissue imaging, and particularly with respect to their selective toxicity in cancer tissues. Graphene oxide based CNMs (GO-CNMs) possess notable geometrical variants, such as flat sheets, tubes, scrolls and spheres, and form stable and easily-processed aqueous solutions. Further, the presence of oxygen containing functional groups in GO-CNMs provide potential locations for attachment of drugs, disease targeting functional groups as well as decoration with metal nanoparticles making them viable theranostics platforms. In this study, we decorated GO sheets with metal nanoparticles using methods reported elsewhere. Further, we developed a synthesis protocol for crumpled GO assemblies (GO roses) to produce metal nanoparticle decorated GO roses. Water-in-oil emulsions (W/O emulsion), used to fabricate the decorated GO roses, were obtained using a homogenizer. The aqueous phase of the W/O emulsion was rapidly removed from the system via evaporation due to emulsification in hot oil. The evaporation yielded spherical, crumpled meso-structures, ranging from sub-micron to several microns in size. We studied the morphology, chemical properties and theranostics capabilities of such composites with specific focus as potential cancer theranostics.

Metal nanoparticle decorated meso-graphene oxide composites as theranostics

254th National Meeting (2017)

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