Chapter 18 - Bottom-up synthesis of hybrid carbon nanoscrolls

Abstract

Nanostructures that contain both magnetic and optically active components have emerged as attractive candidates for advanced biomedical applications, such as multimodal bioimaging, targeted drug delivery and magnetic hyperthermia. In particular, carbon nanomaterials, such as graphene, graphite nanosheets, and nanoscrolls have been attracting considerable interest due to their high surface area, light weight, superior electronic function, thermal conductivity, and robust physical stability. Distinct from carbon nanotubes (CNTs), carbon nanoscrolls (CNS) are open tubular carbon structures with tuneable interlayer gaps between thin films and their radius, endowing higher molecular accessible surface areas than nanosheets and nanotubes, and thus making them robust in harsh environments, such as heat, humidity, and aggregation. Because CNS architectures comprise interlayer corridors, which are created by wrapping a C-nanofilm into a helical structure, the scroll topology allows their properties to significantly discriminate from those of either single or multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). For instance, electron transport in CNSs arises in the entire structure as opposed to MWCNTs, in which the electron transfer is only constricted to each layer. Moreover, the open interlayer corridors of CNSs are readily available for intercalating, adsorbing, or doping molecules, which differ from MWCNTs which are resistant toward intercalation into the interwall gaps. Hence, the variety of beneficial material characteristics of CNSs due to the unique open hollow morphology with very high specific surface area would offer a number of advantages compared to traditional C-nanostructures such as CNTs, carbon nanowires (CNW), and planar graphene. Some CNS systems have been explored for comprehensive applications in diverse fields.