Chapter 1 - Functionalized graphene nanomaterials: Next-generation nanomedicine

Abstract

Carbon-based nanomaterials are widely considered to be the next-generation materials for a broad range of biomedical applications. They are well known for their unique electronic, chemical, and mechanical properties. The rapid progress in nanotechnology introduced a scientific momentum that involves the fundamental understanding of the properties of nanostructures, the synthesis of nanoscale materials, the imaging of nanostructures, and the assembly of functional nanoscale devices. Functionalized carbon nanomaterials possess excellent biocompatibility and have a negligible amount of residual heavy metals. This has been suggested to be nontoxic at a cellular level. Functionalization is a necessary and unavoidable step to make carbon nanomaterial a multifunctional, multimodal, and high-performance tool for biomedicine. After the discovery of fullerene and carbon nanotubes, various carbon nanomaterials were discovered or synthesized. Furthermore, in basic research for the development of nanomaterials is expected to open novel avenues for the treatment of human diseases due to their unique physicochemical properties. Nanomaterials are generally classified into organic nanomaterials, inorganic nanomaterials, and hybrid nanomaterials. Carbon nanomaterials come under inorganic nanomaterials and are further categorized into fullerenes, nanotubes, nanohorns, nanodiamonds, nanodots, and grapheme derivatives based on their morphologies. Carbon nanomaterials are inherently inert substrates for neuronal growth, and support for adhesion of oligosaccharides to mimic cell membranes, ion channel blockers, and delivery systems. Graphene carbon nanomaterials have great advantages for utilization in biomedical research and application. They have proven to be ideal for carrying biological molecules in a wide range of successful applications, which are very likely to increase substantially in the future.