A Sustainable Graphene Aerogel Capable of the Adsorptive Elimination of Biogenic Amines and Bacteria from Soy Sauce and Highly Efficient Cell Proliferation.

A graphene aerogel (GA) with a three-dimensional (3D) structure, ultra-lightweight nature, and high hydrophobicity was simply fabricated by the one-step pyrolysis of glucose and ammonium chloride. The as-synthesized GA exhibited a 3D interconnected microporous architecture with a high surface area of ∼2860 m2 g-1 and pore volume of 2.24 cm3 g-1. The hydrophobic GA (10 mg 100 mL-1) demonstrated rapid and excellent adsorption performance for the removal of food toxins such as various biogenic amines (histamine, cadaverine, and spermine) and the hazardous bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (a food contaminant and a cause of poor wound healing) from a liquid matrix with a maximum simultaneous adsorption capacity for multiple biogenic amines of >85.19% (histamine), 74.1% (cadaverine), and 70.11% (spermidine) and a 100% reduction in the viable cell count of S. aureus within 80 min of interaction. The outstanding adsorption capacity can be attributed to a highly interconnected porous network in the 3D architecture and a high surface-to-volume ratio. A case study using soy sauce spiked with multiple biogenic amines showed successful removal of toxins with excellent recyclability without any loss in absorption performance. Biocompatibility of the GA in terms of cell viability was observed even at high concentrations (83.46% and 75.28% at 25 and 50 mg mL-1, respectively). Confirmatory biocompatibility testing was conducted via live/dead cell evaluation, and the morphology of normal lung epithelial cells was examined via scanning electron microscopy showed no cellular shrinkage. Moreover, GA showed excellent removal of live colonies of S. aureus from the food matrix and immunoblotting analysis showed elevated protein expression levels of β-catenin and α-SMA (α-smooth muscle actin). The biocompatible sugar-based GA could simultaneously adsorb multiple biogenic amines and live bacteria and was easy to regenerate via simple separation due to its high floatability, hydrophobicity, surface area, and porosity without any structural and functional loss, making it especially relevant for food safety and biomedical applications.