Graphene oxide (GO) can be readily modified for particular applications due to the existence of abundant oxygen-containing functional groups. Graphene oxide-based materials (GOBMs), which are biocompatible and hydrophilic, have wide potential applications in biomedical engineering and biotechnology. In this review, the preparation and characterization of GO and its derivatives are discussed at first. Subsequently, the biocompatibility and tribological behavior of GOBMs are reviewed. Finally, the applications of GOBMs as lubricants in bio-tribological systems are discussed in detail.

The skin, which is known as a complex multi-layered tissue, is vital for protecting the body from potentially harmful external environment and exhibits complex mechanical behaviour. As reported, skin is a non-linear, anisotropic and viscoelastic materials, with its mechanical properties varied in each skin layer and influenced mainly by skin hydration status, environment humidity and test conditions. Therefore, it is difficult to study the mechanical and tribological interactions between human skin and materials for the development of human contacting products. And in order to better understand the mechanical interactions between human skin and various products for optimizing surfaces and materials in contact with human skin, it is significant to use instrumental mechanical and tribological measurements, which could provide objective and more reproducible results without inter- and intra-subject variations. Past decades we have witnessed many endeavors exerted for developing physical skin model to objectively study the interactions between human skin and materials, instead of using in vivo or ex vivo human skin or animal skin. This review article gives an overview of the development of physical skin model for biomechanical applications, in which the progresses made in the synthesis and the following tests of skin-materials interaction were summarised and discussed.