30 years of advances in functionalization of carbon nanomaterials for biomedical applications: a practical review

Self-assembling peptides and carbon nanomaterials have attracted great interest for their respective potential to bring innovation in the biomedical field. Combination of these two types of building blocks is not trivial in light of their very different physico-chemical properties, yet great progress has been made over the years at the interface between these two research areas. This concise review will analyze the latest developments at the forefront of research that combines self-assembling peptides with carbon nanostructures for biological use. Applications span from tissue regeneration, to biosensing and imaging, and bioelectronics.

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Introduction to the special issue on biomedical applications of carbon nanomaterials

Carbon ◽

10.1016/j.carbon.2015.09.043 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 97 ◽

pp. 124-125 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Alberto Bianco ◽

Zhuang Liu

Keyword(s):

Biomedical Applications ◽

Carbon Nanomaterials ◽

Special Issue

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Facile preparation of porous carbon nanomaterials for robust supercapacitors

Journal of Materials Research ◽

10.1557/jmr.2017.447 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 33 (9) ◽

pp. 1142-1154

Author(s):

Peng Zhang ◽

Shilei Xie ◽

Yongfu Qiu ◽

Yuanqi Jiao ◽

Chuanwei Ji ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Porous Carbon ◽

Carbon Nanomaterials ◽

Facile Preparation ◽

Image Position

Abstract

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Nanocomposite Films of Chitosan-Grafted Carbon Nano-Onions for Biomedical Applications

Molecules ◽

10.3390/molecules25051203 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 25 (5) ◽

pp. 1203 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Carlos David Grande Tovar ◽

Jorge Iván Castro ◽

Carlos Humberto Valencia ◽

Diana Paola Navia Porras ◽

José Herminsul Mina Hernandez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Polyvinyl Alcohol ◽

Biomedical Applications ◽

Wistar Rats ◽

Carbon Nanomaterials ◽

Biological Properties ◽

High Rate ◽

Nanocomposite Films ◽

Scanning Calorimetry ◽

In Vivo Evaluation

The design of scaffolding from biocompatible and resistant materials such as carbon nanomaterials and biopolymers has become very important, given the high rate of injured patients. Graphene and carbon nanotubes, for example, have been used to improve the physical, mechanical, and biological properties of different materials and devices. In this work, we report the grafting of carbon nano-onions with chitosan (CS-g-CNO) through an amide-type bond. These compounds were blended with chitosan and polyvinyl alcohol composites to produce films for subdermal implantation in Wistar rats. Films with physical mixture between chitosan, polyvinyl alcohol, and carbon nano-onions were also prepared for comparison purposes. Film characterization was performed with Fourier Transformation Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Tensile strength, X-ray Diffraction Spectroscopy (XRD), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The degradation of films into simulated body fluid (SBF) showed losses between 14% and 16% of the initial weight after 25 days of treatment. Still, a faster degradation (weight loss and pH changes) was obtained with composites of CS-g-CNO due to a higher SBF interaction by hydrogen bonding. On the other hand, in vivo evaluation of nanocomposites during 30 days in Wistar rats, subdermal tissue demonstrated normal resorption of the materials with lower inflammation processes as compared with the physical blends of ox-CNO formulations. SBF hydrolytic results agreed with the in vivo degradation for all samples, demonstrating that with a higher ox-CNO content increased the stability of the material and decreased its degradation capacity; however, we observed greater reabsorption with the formulations including CS-g-CNO. With this research, we demonstrated the future impact of CS/PVA/CS-g-CNO nanocomposite films for biomedical applications.

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Graphenic Materials for Biomedical Applications

Nanomaterials ◽

10.3390/nano9121758 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (12) ◽

pp. 1758 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Daniela Plachá ◽

Josef Jampilek

Keyword(s):

Graphene Oxide ◽

Reduced Graphene Oxide ◽

Protein Delivery ◽

Biomedical Applications ◽

Carbon Nanomaterials ◽

Antimicrobial Properties ◽

Delivery Systems ◽

Research Results ◽

Reduced Graphene ◽

Application Potential

Graphene-based nanomaterials have been intensively studied for their properties, modifications, and application potential. Biomedical applications are one of the main directions of research in this field. This review summarizes the research results which were obtained in the last two years (2017–2019), especially those related to drug/gene/protein delivery systems and materials with antimicrobial properties. Due to the large number of studies in the area of carbon nanomaterials, attention here is focused only on 2D structures, i.e. graphene, graphene oxide, and reduced graphene oxide.

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Functionalization of Carbon Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications

C – Journal of Carbon Research ◽

10.3390/c5040072 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 72 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Liu ◽

Speranza

Keyword(s):

Protein Delivery ◽

Carbon Nanostructures ◽

Biomedical Applications ◽

High Performance ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Carbon Nanomaterials ◽

Chemical Species ◽

Infrared Region ◽

Highly Sensitive ◽

Versatile Tool

Over the past decade, carbon nanostructures (CNSs) have been widely used in a variety of biomedical applications. Examples are the use of CNSs for drug and protein delivery or in tools to locally dispense nucleic acids to fight tumor affections. CNSs were successfully utilized in diagnostics and in noninvasive and highly sensitive imaging devices thanks to their optical properties in the near infrared region. However, biomedical applications require a complete biocompatibility to avoid adverse reactions of the immune system and CNSs potentials for biodegradability. Water is one of the main constituents of the living matter. Unfortunately, one of the disadvantages of CNSs is their poor solubility. Surface functionalization of CNSs is commonly utilized as an efficient solution to both tune the surface wettability of CNSs and impart biocompatible properties. Grafting functional groups onto the CNSs surface consists in bonding the desired chemical species on the carbon nanoparticles via wet or dry processes leading to the formation of a stable interaction. This latter may be of different nature as the van Der Waals, the electrostatic or the covalent, the π-π interaction, the hydrogen bond etc. depending on the process and on the functional molecule at play. Grafting is utilized for multiple purposes including bonding mimetic agents such as polyethylene glycol, drug/protein adsorption, attaching nanostructures to increase the CNSs opacity to selected wavelengths or provide magnetic properties. This makes the CNSs a very versatile tool for a broad selection of applications as medicinal biochips, new high-performance platforms for magnetic resonance (MR), photothermal therapy, molecular imaging, tissue engineering, and neuroscience. The scope of this work is to highlight up-to-date using of the functionalized carbon materials such as graphene, carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, fullerene and nanodiamonds in biomedical applications.

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