Graphene-based contrast agents for photoacoustic and thermoacoustic tomography

In this work, graphene nanoribbons and nanoplatelets were investigated as contrast agents for photoacoustic and thermoacoustic tomography (PAT and TAT). We show that oxidized single- and multi-walled graphene oxide nanoribbons (O-SWGNRs, O-MWGNRs) exhibit approximately 5–10 fold signal enhancement for PAT in comparison to blood at the wavelength of 755 nm, and approximately 10–28% signal enhancement for TAT in comparison to deionized (DI) water at 3 GHz. Oxidized graphite microparticles (O-GMPs) and exfoliated graphene oxide nanoplatelets (O-GNPs) show no significant signal enhancement for PAT, and approximately 12–29% signal enhancement for TAT. These results indicate that O-GNRs show promise as multi-modal PAT and TAT contrast agents, and that O-GNPs are suitable contrast agents for TAT.