Recent modifications of carbon nanotubes for biomedical applications

Abstract

Recent advances in the biomedical field have been remarkably achieved in the last few years, especially in the fabrication of nanomaterials that have various applications. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are carbon-based materials with cylindrical shapes that have an average diameter of less than 2 nanometre (nm) for single-walled CNTs (SWCNTs) and an average diameter up to 100 nm for multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs). CNTs demonstrate unique chemical, physical and electronic properties, and these remarkable properties have led to the development of CNTs-based materials in the biomedical field. For the past decades, the functionalization of CNTs has been actively developed to increase their biocompatibility for application in antibacterial materials, dentistry, drug delivery, and biosensing. The surface functionalization enhances the capabilities, features, and properties by modifying the surface chemistry of CNTs to improve their biocompatibility. The functionalization of CNTs will enable the biomolecule loading on the surface of CNTs, and thus can be used for drug delivery for targeted cells or immobilization support. This review discusses the related literature on biomedical applications of CNTs such as antibacterial, dental materials, cancer therapy and biosensors from 2007 – 2022. We also review the antibacterial properties between SWCNTs and MWCNTs, functionalized CNTs reinforced nanocomposite for dental applications, and the ability of CNTs to work as nanocarriers to deliver drugs directly to cancer cells. Moreover, the applications of CNTs-based biosensors in detecting biological and biomedical compounds are also discussed. This review is expected to provide guidelines for developing CNTs-based materials in the applications of biomedical field.