# A Study on Technology Competition of Graphene Biomedical Technology Based on Patent Analysis
## 2 Literature Review
[PERSON] and [PERSON] indicated that material characteristics, interactions with biological components (tissues, cells, and proteins), and biological activity outcomes need to be considered carefully in the development of graphene biomedical technology [33]. Recently, researchers have paid close attention to the biomedical applications of graphene, including biosensor, antibacterial, antiviral and anticancer material, therapeutics, and tissue engineering [34]. For example, recent progress in the biomedical applications of graphene have been used in sustainable biomedical devices such as blood glucose sensors and deep brain stimulators [35]. A couple of years ago, several researchers aim to review the research development and practical application of graphene biomedical technology [36; 37]. As a conductive transparent nanomaterial with low cost and substantial green environmental impact, graphene is suitable for catalysis, sensing, drug delivery, electrical and bioelectronics, tissue engineering, cancer theranostics, and clinical tools [38; 39]. [PERSON] et al. provided a systematic review and critical analysis emphasizing the role of graphene-based nanomaterials (GBNs) in cancer theranostics. This study also illustrated the challengesyet to overcome for a translation of GBNs to a clinical context of pharmaceutical applications [40]. [PERSON] et al. proposed a tutorial review and analyzed graphene-based devices with in vitro and in vivo applications. In addition, this study addressed the toxicological impact and the limitations in translating graphene materials into advanced clinical tools [41]. [PERSON] et al. highlighted recent efforts to apply graphene and graphene oxides (GO) to biomedical research and a few different approaches to prepare graphene materials designed for biomedical applications [42]. Graphene and GO are considered as promising materials for biomedical applications such as mass spectrometry, Field Effect Transistor (FET)/Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) sensors, gene and drug delivery, stem cell differentiation, cancer treatment, and cell growth control [42]. [PERSON] and [PERSON] discussed the biomedical applications of graphene family nanomaterials (e.g., graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and graphene quantum dots (GQDs)), as well as their synthesis procedure, biocompatibility, and biomedical applications, including biosensors, bioimaging, tissue engineering, drug delivery, gene therapy, photodynamic and photothermal therapy, and their prospective future [43]. [PERSON] et al. reported and discussed the recent findings using graphene and derivatives as potent nanomaterials for promoting stem cell research (i.e., culture, maintenance and differentiation) and tissue engineering, as well as for regenerative, translational and personalized medicine (e.g., bone reconstruction, neural regeneration) [44]. This paper also highlighted the importance of functionalizing graphene-based nanomaterials to minimize the cytotoxic effects, as well as other critical safety parameters [44]. However, the existing research has put limited effort to investigate patenting activities of graphene. Most of the recent studies have employed patent analysis to illustrate the status quo of patent application activities [45], monitor core technological components [46], investigate the technological innovation trajectory [47], and identify the development trends of technology evolution [48] in the graphene field. Moreover, the number of existing patent reviews in this field is very few, and the patent research on graphene biomedical technology is still in the blank stage. In particular, most of the existing literature mainly focuses on counting the number of patents in this field. [PERSON] et al. provide a review of patenting activity and development trend in the field of graphene-based nanocomposites [49]. This research employed an annual number of patents as well as the number of patents in each subject in order to illustrate the research status and trends of graphene nanocomposites [49].