Researchers' examination of surface oxygen in graphene materials may yield graphene-based products with better antibacterial activity

The amount of surface oxygen in graphene materials is a key factor in how effective they could be in killing bacteri a – a discovery which may help to design safer and more effective products to combat antimicrobial resistance.   Researchers from the UK's University of Birmingham, China's Shandong University of Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China, NovaMechanics in Cyprus, Austria's Medical University of Innsbruck, University of Eastern Finland and Leiden University in the Netherlands have found that it is graphene oxide’s different interaction modes that lead to distinct antibacterial activity – with a ‘switch’ occurring when surface oxygen levels reach a certain threshold.