Aggregation morphology is a key factor determining protein adsorption on graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide nanomaterials

Abstract

The analysis of the protein corona on (reduced) graphene oxides demonstrated that these nanomaterials preferentially adsorbed high-molecular-weight proteins through hydrophobic interaction. The counterintuitive observation that more reduced, and thus more hydrophobic, graphene oxides had lower adsorption capacities was attributable to the surface-functionality-determined, more significant aggregation of the reduced materials.