Synthesis of a biocompatible aerogel based on graphene oxide and a modified polyethylene glycol

Abstract

The synthesis and self-assembly of a 3D aerogel built by graphene oxide (GO) and a modified polyethylene glycol (PEG) was achieved by a multi-step synthetic procedure, involving the preparation of an amino-terminated PEG (PEG-NH2) and the subsequent coupling with GO by carbodiimide in water, exploiting the carboxyl and epoxy moieties of GO and –NH2 terminations of the biopolymer. The resulting nanohybrid hydrogel was successively converted into an aerogel via dialysis plus freeze-drying [1] and fully characterized. FTIR, Raman, XPS, XRD and BET measurements were performed to confirm the successful modification for each reaction step, while morphological, mechanical and hemolytic tests were performed on the final device, which was found to display an ultralight and highly porous (99.7%) network, intriguing mechanical properties and biocompatibility.