Aggregation morphology is a key factor determining protein adsorption on graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide nanomaterials

The analysis of the protein corona on (reduced) graphene oxides demonstrated that these nanomaterials preferentially adsorbed high-molecular-weight proteins through hydrophobic interaction. The counterintuitive observation that more reduced, and thus more hydrophobic, graphene oxides had lower adsorption capacities was attributable to the surface-functionality-determined, more significant aggregation of the reduced materials.