Antrea Spanou

The general aim of the project is identifying suitable areas where polymer-graphene composites could be a solution for challenges in in biomedical engineering.

Graphene's properties give rise to unique effects when incorporated into polymeric materials. In this project two of graphene's properties are in focus; electrical conductivity and antibacterial properties.

We try to identify whether the antibacterial properties of graphene reported in literature can be transferred in polymer composites and enable inherently antimicrobial surfaces. This could help the fight against antibiotic resistance, which is a serious problem in healthcare settings everywhere around the world.

The other part of the project focuses on developing conducting polymer composites for additive manufacturing. Here we aim at being able to 3D print metal free devices such as miniaturised sensors, which can be, more sustainable and cost effective for research environments and point of care applications.