Dissolving Graphene/Poly(Acrylic Acid) Microneedles for Potential Transdermal Drug Delivery and Photothermal Therapy

We developed a composite of graphene and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) to build dissolving microneedles for potential transdermal drug delivery and photothermal therapy. The results showed that each microneedle array comprised 100 (10×10) pyramidal needles with a tip-to-tip distance of 500 μm and height of 550 μm. The graphene incorporation reinforced the mechanical strength of the microneedles and facilitated their insertion into the skin. Importantly, the graphene/PAA microneedles exhibited good photothermal effects under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation and rapid drug delivery behavior due to the good water solubility of the PAA matrix. Hence, the resulting graphene/PAA microneedles have great potential for application in synergistic chemo- and photothermal therapies for skin cancer.