Significance Variety of bacteria in the nature pose a great threat to animals and plants, as well as human beings leading to gradual emergence of various antibiotics. However, due to the large use of antibiotics, many pathogenic bacteria have developed strong resistance to them, leading the decreased efficacy of antibiotics, and it is hence urgent to develop more effective antibacterial materials. The graphene family materials themselves have certain antibacterial properties, but the effect of a single graphene material in exerting its antibacterial properties is not ideal. In this case, the synergistic antibacterial effect between components can be better played by combining graphene materials with other antibacterial materials. In view of this, in order to better overcome the limitations faced by single materials in the antibacterial field, the research progress in graphene based new antibacterial materials is reviewed and discussed, with the aim to provide reference for research and development of new antibacterial materials with strong antibacterial properties, long antibacterial aging properties, and stable antibacterial properties.
Progress The characteristics of graphene materials in antibacterial such as broad-spectrum antibacterial, physical and chemical effects were introduced, and the antibacterial mechanisms of graphene and its derivatives including contact cutting, coating, and oxidative stress were emphatically elaborated. Then, the research progress of graphene compounded with nanomaterial, chitosan, quaternary ammonium salts, haloamines, etc. was analyzed. The image of Escherichia coli cells was showed before and after a sandwich type antibacterial material treatment under the scanning electron microscope(Fig.1). The sandwich type antibacterial material was prepared by directly growing silver nanoparticles on the surface of graphene based nano sheets. The image shows that the bacterial cell membrane structure was damaged after the sandwich type antibacterial material were treated with Escherichia coli cells for a period of time. The difference diagram of antibacterial performance was showed between graphene and composites with different copper nanoparticles loading by colony count method(Fig. 2). The results show that, within a certain range, the loading of copper nanoparticles significantly improved the antibacterial performance of graphene. When the loading of copper nanoparticles was 10%, the antibacterial effect of the composite reached the best state. The application of graphene based composite antibacterial materials in the textile field was analysed, problems challenging research are summarized, and the future development direction of graphene based composite antibacterial materials is prospected.
Conclusions and Prospect The literature review shows that in the field of antibacterial, graphene materials exhibit broad-spectrum antibacterial activity that can inhibit a variety of pathogenic bacteria. When graphene materials exert their antibacterial activity, there are physical and chemical action modes, including physical damage caused by nanoknife contact cutting, reactive oxygen mechanism generated by oxidative stress, and coating effect. When graphene materials are compounded with other materials, such as nano silver particles, nano copper particles, titanium dioxide, nano zinc oxide particles, chitosan, quaternary ammonium salts, haloamines, and so on, the prepared graphene based new antibacterial materials demonstrate excellent antibacterial properties, and the composite materials show more excellent antibacterial properties than a single component. This is because the graphene based new antibacterial materials can give full play to the synergistic effect between components, and reduce the reunions between components. When graphene based composite antibacterial materials are applied in the textiles, the developed composite fibers and functional fabrics have good antibacterial activity, and the modified fibers and fabrics can inactivate gram-positive bacteria, gram-negative bacteria and other pathogens. However, during the development of functional fabrics, there are still problems such as the defects of graphene fibers and the difficulties in the combination of graphene materials and fabrics, calling for solutions. To sum up, the materials obtained by compounding graphene materials with other antibacterial materials can give full play to the synergistic antibacterial effect of each component and develop rapidly. However, despite the rapid development of graphene based new antibacterial materials, their industrialization still faces many challenges. In the future, focuses should be placed on optimizing their preparation process, antibacterial mechanism and other aspects to make them green and environmentally friendly.