Mattei Tobias A, Rehman Azeem A
*Invision Health Brain and Spine Center, Williamsville, New York; ‡University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, Peoria, Illinois.
Neurosurgery. 2014 May;74(5):499-516; discussion 516. doi: 10.1227/NEU.0000000000000302.
Graphene, a monolayer atomic-scale honeycomb lattice of carbon atoms, has been considered the greatest revolution in metamaterials research in the past 5 years. Its developers were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010, and massive funding has been directed to graphene-based experimental research in the last years. For instance, an international scientific collaboration has recently received a €1 billion grant from the European Flagship Initiative, the largest amount of financial resources ever granted for a single research project in the history of modern science. Because of graphene's unique optical, thermal, mechanical, electronic, and quantum properties, the incorporation of graphene-based metamaterials to biomedical applications is expected to lead to major technological breakthroughs in the next few decades. Current frontline research in graphene technology includes the development of high-performance, lightweight, and malleable electronic devices, new optical modulators, ultracapacitors, molecular biodevices, organic photovoltaic cells, lithium-ion microbatteries, frequency multipliers, quantum dots, and integrated circuits, just to mention a few. With such advances, graphene technology is expected to significantly impact several areas of neurosurgery, including neuro-oncology, neurointensive care, neuroregeneration research, peripheral nerve surgery, functional neurosurgery, and spine surgery. In this topic review, the authors provide a basic introduction to the main electrophysical properties of graphene. Additionally, future perspectives of ongoing frontline investigations on this new metamaterial are discussed, with special emphasis on those research fields that are expected to most substantially impact experimental and clinical neurosurgery in the near future.
石墨烯是由碳原子构成的单层原子尺度蜂窝晶格，在过去5年里被认为是超材料研究领域最重大的变革。其开发者于2010年被授予诺贝尔物理学奖，在过去几年中，大量资金被投入到基于石墨烯的实验研究中。例如，一个国际科学合作项目最近从欧洲旗舰计划获得了10亿欧元的资助，这是现代科学史上单个研究项目获得的最大一笔资金。由于石墨烯具有独特的光学、热学、力学、电学和量子特性，预计在未来几十年内，将基于石墨烯的超材料应用于生物医学领域有望带来重大技术突破。目前石墨烯技术的前沿研究包括开发高性能、轻质且可延展的电子设备、新型光调制器、超级电容器、分子生物器件、有机光伏电池、锂离子微型电池、倍频器、量子点和集成电路等等。有了这些进展，石墨烯技术有望对神经外科的多个领域产生重大影响，包括神经肿瘤学、神经重症监护、神经再生研究、周围神经外科、功能神经外科和脊柱外科。在本主题综述中，作者对石墨烯的主要电物理性质进行了基本介绍。此外，还讨论了对这种新型超材料正在进行的前沿研究的未来前景，特别强调了那些预计在不久的将来对实验和临床神经外科产生最大影响的研究领域。
