Sounds like a no-brainer that the toxicity of graphene would preclude its use in in-body medical devices, but then again the article implies that the study is concerned about the safe manufacturing process. I wonder if the medical regulations will ban graphene for certain uses.
This does not sound positive for the future of graphene. Thanks for the information. Even though there are some positiveness brought into this article by the information provided in the para "...developing safer methods of manufacturing, handling, and utilizing them throughout their lifecycles". But I think that the world is moving to the future, when electronics might be part of every activities in our lives, there will be stricter norms for a safer environment, better heath, better quality of life...like Europe making regulatory compliance requirement for all electronics RoHS compliant by 2017...regulatory compulsions might impose stricter norms going forward and could be a hurdle for Graphene if this study is proven and approved by others. What do you think?
I would like to know what other materials pierce cells - I am sure there are many - also, what happens to the material when absorbed by the cell - is it incapsulated and broken down, or neutralized? The image looks bad (great image btw), but what are the long term affects?
The researcher Agnes Kanes told me that their purpose was to make graphene safe for all types of applications, including medical implants, by engineering their properties to be non-toxic. In order to do so, her team had to first determine how graphene powders disruputs cell functions, which was the sharp corners. Their next step will be to engineer methods of eliminating the sharp corners that are piercing cell walls.
The short-term effects were bad enough in a petri dish, hopefully we'll never know the long-term effects, but insted will engineering better methods of manfacturing graphene that eliminates its toxicity.
As the graphene particles are exposing about the same shape as asbestos fibres: expect similar effects. Except when they are small enough to be absorbed. Then: switch to the effects of carbon-particulate matter.