Fig. 2

Solubilization of BaPs by PS examined by MD simulations and laboratory experiments. a Simulated snapshot of PS adsorption on a bare graphene nanosheet. Lipid tails are diaplayed in green with headgroups in yellow. Water molecules are not displayed for clarity. b Snapshots of PS interactions with graphene and adsorbed BaPs. c Changes of the BaP-BaP and BaP-PS interaction energies as a function of the total number of BaPs adsorbed on graphene. d Changes of the graphene-BaP and graphene-PS interaction energies as functions of the adsorbed BaP number. e Confocal imaging of PS adsorption on graphene. Black color represents graphene of approximately 20 μm in lateral size. Red color represents adsorbed PS molecules. f Simulated snapshot showing that more BaPs adsorbed on graphene oxide were solubilized by PS. g Confocal imaging of PS adsorption (colored in red) on graphene oxide, which is approximately 25 μm in lateral size. h Ratio of dissolved BaPs adsorbed on graphene and graphene oxide in the Curosurf solution. In the solubilization experiments, the concentrations of BaP, graphene/graphene oxide and PS were 5, 10, 40 mg/L, respectively, and the sample was incubated at 37 ℃ for 48 h