Review of Potential Environmental and Health Risks of the Nanomaterial Graphene

ABSTRACT

Several future applications have been suggested for the nanomaterial graphene, and its production is increasing dramatically. This study is a review of risk-related information on graphene with the purpose of outlining potential environmental and health risks and guide future risk-related research. Available information is presented regarding emissions, environmental fate, and toxicity of graphene. The results from this study indicate that graphene could exert a considerable toxicity and that considerable emission of graphene from electronic devices and composites are possible in the future. It is also suggested that graphene is both persistent and hydrophobic. Although these results indicate that graphene may cause adverse environmental and health effects, the results foremost show that there are many risk-related knowledge gaps to be filled and that the emissions of graphene, the fate of graphene in the environment, and the toxicity of graphene should be further studied.