Plasma‐Enabled Graphene Quantum Dot Hydrogels as Smart Anticancer Drug Nanocarriers

• Published in: Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Germany), 2023-05, Vol.19 (20), p.e2206813-n/a
• Main Authors: Kurniawan, Darwin, Mathew, Jacob, Rahardja, Michael Ryan, Pham, Hoang‐Phuc, Wong, Pei‐Chun, Rao, Neralla Vijayakameswara, Ostrikov, Kostya (Ken), Chiang, Wei‐Hung
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anticancer properties; Antineoplastic Agents - chemistry; Antineoplastic Agents - pharmacology; anti‐cancer; Biocompatibility; Biomedical materials; Cancer; Chitosan; Chitosan - chemistry; Doxorubicin; Doxorubicin - chemistry; Doxorubicin - pharmacology; Drug Carriers - chemistry; Drug Delivery Systems; Drug Liberation; Energy transfer; Graphene; graphene quantum dots; Graphite - chemistry; High temperature; Hydrogels; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Microplasmas; Nanotechnology; Photoluminescence; plasmas; Quantum dots; Quantum Dots - chemistry; Toxicity
• ISSN: 1613-6810; 1613-6829
• DOI: 10.1002/smll.202206813

One of the major challenges on the way to low‐cost, simple, and effective cancer treatments is the lack of smart anticancer drug delivery materials with the requisite of site‐specific and microenvironment‐responsive properties. This work reports the development of plasma‐engineered smart drug nanocarriers (SDNCs) containing chitosan and nitrogen‐doped graphene quantum dots (NGQDs) for drug delivery in a pH‐responsive manner. Through a customized microplasma processing, a highly cross‐linked SDNC with only 4.5% of NGQD ratio can exhibit enhanced toughness up to threefold higher than the control chitosan group, avoiding the commonly used high temperatures and toxic chemical cross‐linking agents. The SDNCs demonstrate improved loading capability for doxorubicin (DOX) via π–π interactions and stable solid‐state photoluminescence to monitor the DOX loading and release through the Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) mechanism. Moreover, the DOX loaded SDNC exhibits anticancer effects against cancer cells during cytotoxicity tests at minimum concentration. Cellular uptake studies confirm that the DOX loaded SDNC can be successfully internalized into the nucleus after 12 h incubation period. This work provides new insights into the development of smart, environmental‐friendly, and biocompatible nanographene hydrogels for the next‐generation biomedical applications. Plasma engineering of nitrogen‐doped graphene quantum dot (NGQD) hydrogels with 3D robust, porous, and photoluminescence (PL) properties. The presence of NGQDs in the hydrogel can accelerate and improve the loading capacity of anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) via π–π interaction, and exhibit stable solid‐state PL to monitor the drug loading and releasing through the Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET).