Chapter 10 - Elevating toward a new innovation: Carbon nanotubes (CNTs)

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) consist of graphitic carbon molecularly scaled tubes. They are among the stiffest and strongest fibers known and have possessed exceptional characteristics and a unique physicochemical framework, which may emerge as an alternative manifesto for the delivery of different therapeutic molecules for various biomedical applications. CNTs have the potential to carry drugs in the organism as they are hollow and much smaller than the blood cells. Functionalization of CNTs provides new perspectives in the study of pharmaceutical and toxicological issues. There remain a number of fundamental issues that need to be resolved, however, such as homogeneity of the material that contains different nanostructures, the presence of residual metals, separation of the individual nanotubes, and sensitivity to the different gases and species. This chapter will review various proved and emerging biomedical applications of CNTs and the idealistic opportunity in the field of nanomedicines and nanotechnology.