Laser-Induced Graphene (LIG) as a Smart and Sustainable Material to Restrain Pandemics and Endemics: A Perspective

A healthy environment is necessary for a human being to survive. The contagious COVID-19 virus has disastrously contaminated the environment, leading to direct or indirect transmission. Therefore, the environment demands adequate prevention and control strategies at the beginning of the viral spread. Laser-induced graphene (LIG) is a three-dimensional carbon-based nanomaterial fabricated in a single step on a wide variety of low-cost to high-quality carbonaceous materials without using any additional chemicals potentially used for antiviral, antibacterial, and sensing applications. LIG has extraordinary properties, including high surface area, electrical and thermal conductivity, environmental-friendliness, easy fabrication, and patterning, making it a sustainable material for controlling SARS-CoV-2 or similar pandemic transmission through different sources. LIG's antiviral, antibacterial, and antibiofouling properties were mainly due to the thermal and electrical properties and texture derived from nanofibers and micropores. This perspective will highlight the conducted research and the future possibilities on LIG for its antimicrobial, antiviral, antibiofouling, and sensing applications. It will also manifest the idea of incorporating this sustainable material into different technologies like air purifiers, antiviral surfaces, wearable sensors, water filters, sludge treatment, and biosensing. It will pave a roadmap to explore this single-step fabrication technique of graphene to deal with pandemics and endemics in the coming future.