Graphene: a disruptive opportunity for COVID-19 and future pandemics?

The graphene revolution, which has taken place during the last 15 years, has represented a paradigm shift for science. The extraordinary properties possessed by this unique material have paved the road to a number of applications in materials science, opto-electronics, energy and sensing. Graphene related materials (GRMs) are now produced in large scale and found niche applications also in the biomedical technologies, defining new standards for drug delivery and biosensing. Such advances positioned GRMs as novel tools to fight against the current COVID-19 and future pandemics. In this regard, GRMs can play a major role in sensing, as an active component in antiviral surfaces or in virucidal formulations. This essay showcases the most promising strategies reported in the literature on the interface of GRMs with COVID-19 and other types of viruses, with a strong focus on the impact of functionalization, deposition techniques and integration into devices and surface coatings.