Enhanced green fluorescent protein-mediated synthesis of biocompatible graphene

Graphene is the 2D form of carbon that exists as a single layer of atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice and has attracted great interest in the last decade in view of its physical, chemical, electrical, elastic, thermal, and biocompatible properties. The objective of this study was to synthesize an environmentally friendly and simple methodology for the preparation of graphene using a recombinant enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP).

The successful reduction of GO to graphene was confirmed using UV-vis spectroscopy, and FT-IR. DLS and SEM were employed to demonstrate the particle size and surface morphology of GO and EGFP-rGO. The results from Raman spectroscopy suggest the removal of oxygen-containing functional groups from the surface of GO and formation of graphene with defects. The biocompatibility analysis of GO and EGFP-rGO in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells suggests that GO induces significant concentration-dependent cell toxicity in HEK cells, whereas graphene exerts no adverse effects on HEK cells even at a higher concentration (100 μg/mL).

Altogether, our findings suggest that recombinant EGFP can be used as a reducing and stabilizing agent for the preparation of biocompatible graphene. The novelty and originality of this work is that it describes a safe, simple, and environmentally friendly method for the production of graphene using recombinant enhanced green fluorescent protein. Furthermore, the synthesized graphene shows excellent biocompatibility with HEK cells; therefore, biologically synthesized graphene can be used for biomedical applications. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first and novel report describing the synthesis of graphene using recombinant EGFP.