The growing environmental awareness and sustainable development goals have driven the bioplastic industry, with polylactic acid (PLA) emerging as a biodegradable alternative to traditional polymers. However, its mechanical and barrier limitations have led to the use of reinforcements such as graphene, which significantly enhances its strength, impermeability, and antimicrobial properties.

Graphene and its derivatives have proven to be biocompatible and biodegradable materials, with great potential in biomedical and technological applications. Studies have validated their safety in tissues and organs, as well as their ability to be degraded by enzymes that limit their persistence both in the body and in the environment. Graphene and its derivatives are rarely found in their free form, as to harness their properties, they must be combined with three-dimensional materials or functionalized with other molecules or nanostructures to give them a specific property. This is of vital importance because such functionalizations reduce potential adverse effects, facilitating their integration into various industries and their use in sensitive applications like tissue engineering or biomedical products. Their continuous development reinforces their position as an innovative and safe material for future applications.

Since its discovery in 2004, graphene has shown great potential in biomedical applications, from tissue regeneration to early disease detection.

We explain how the use of graphene can be an option for the purification and/or desalination of water and how this could help to solve the problem of the scarcity of drinking water.