Mosquito bite prevention through graphene barrier layers
Mosquito bite prevention through graphene barrier layers
复制标题
DOI：
10.1073/pnas.1906612116
复制
发表时间：
2019-09-10
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Hurt, Robert H.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Castilho, Cintia J.;Li, Dong;Hurt, Robert H.
石墨烯基材料正在开发用于各种可穿戴技术，以提供先进的功能，包括传感；温度调节；化学、机械或辐射防护；或能量储存。我们假设石墨烯薄膜还可能提供额外的意想不到的功能：为轻质纤维织物提供防蚊虫叮咬保护。在这里，我们通过活蚊子实验、针刺力测量和机械穿刺现象的数学建模相结合，研究石墨烯基薄膜与全球重要的蚊子物种埃及伊蚊之间的基本相互作用。结果表明，干燥状态下的石墨烯或氧化石墨烯纳米片薄膜对于抑制蚊子对活人皮肤的叮咬行为非常有效。令人惊讶的是，行为分析表明主要机制不是机械穿刺阻力，而是干扰宿主化学感应。这种干扰被认为是一种分子屏障效应，可防止伊蚊检测到石墨烯薄膜下方与皮肤相关的分子引诱剂，从而防止叮咬行为的发生。可以通过将水或人体汗液作为分子引诱剂放置在薄膜的顶部（外部）表面来规避分子屏障效应。在这种情况下，原始石墨烯薄膜继续通过抗穿刺性（一种机械屏障效应）提供保护，而氧化石墨烯薄膜吸收水分并转化为机械柔软的水凝胶，变得不具有保护作用。
Graphene-based materials are being developed for a variety of wearable technologies to provide advanced functions that include sensing; temperature regulation; chemical, mechanical, or radiative protection; or energy storage. We hypothesized that graphene films may also offer an additional unanticipated function: mosquito bite protection for light, fiber-based fabrics. Here, we investigate the fundamental interactions between graphene-based films and the globally important mosquito species, Aedes aegypti, through a combination of live mosquito experiments, needle penetration force measurements, and mathematical modeling of mechanical puncture phenomena. The results show that graphene or graphene oxide nanosheet films in the dry state are highly effective at suppressing mosquito biting behavior on live human skin. Surprisingly, behavioral assays indicate that the primary mechanism is not mechanical puncture resistance, but rather interference with host chemosensing. This interference is proposed to be a molecular barrier effect that prevents Aedes from detecting skin-associated molecular attractants trapped beneath the graphene films and thus prevents the initiation of biting behavior. The molecular barrier effect can be circumvented by placing water or human sweat as molecular attractants on the top ( external) film surface. In this scenario, pristine graphene films continue to protect through puncture resistance-a mechanical barrier effect-while graphene oxide films absorb the water and convert to mechanically soft hydrogels that become nonprotective.