Abstract
Carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) are a fascinating class of materials that have gained considerable interest in recent years. Their favourable biocompatibility, combined with unique chemical and mechanical properties, has attracted scientists from various disciplines. A significant hurdle in their deployment in biomedical applications is their hydrophobicity in their pristine form. This review surveys and discusses existing non-covalent methods of functionalising CNMs with biocompatible dispersants to facilitate their incorporation into aqueous solutions. Different types of dispersants will be examined and compared as well as the factors affecting their efficiency. This work seeks to provide a compilation of the various methods employed in producing biocompatible CNM dispersions.
Highlights
Carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) are a unique class of materials that have received growing interest in the past three decades
This is due to two main factors (i) their double-tailed structure allows for stronger adsorption to CNMs due to increased non-polar surface area for hydrophobic interactions and (ii) enhanced packing of surfactant molecules due to the two anionic head groups being confined to a small area by the spacer groups
Problems facing the production of stable, aqueous dispersions of carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) were introduced, and selected methods of overcoming their inherent hydrophobicity using non-covalent methods were reviewed and compared
Summary
Carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) are a unique class of materials that have received growing interest in the past three decades. CNMs are unique in terms of their physical and electronic structures Their impressive mechanical strength, extremely high surface area, and thermal properties have not escaped the interest of researchers [3]. It is widely known that hydrophobicity is a major problem for pristine CNMs, when using them in biomedical applications, where aqueous dispersions are often needed This is where biocompatible dispersants have a role to play; these molecules can be attached to a CNM’s surface and impart hydrophilicity to the nanomaterial. Aromatic groups on a surfactant can partake in π-π stacking interactions with a CNM, increasing the binding strength [14] These factors will be detailed in this review, and metrics for comparing different dispersants will be discussed
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