Abstract
Carbon nanotubes have emerged as a versatile and ubiquitous nanomaterial, finding applications in industry and biomedicine. As a result, biosafety concerns that stimulated the research focused on evaluation of carbon nanotube toxicity. In addition, biomedical applications of carbon nanotubes require their imaging and identification in biological specimens. Among other methods, dark-field microscopy has become a potent tool to visualise and identify carbon nanotubes in cells, tissues, and organisms. Based on the Tyndall effect, dark-field optical microscopy at higher magnification is capable of imaging nanoscale particles in live objects. If reinforced with spectral identification, this technology can be utilised for chemical identification and mapping of carbon nanotubes. In this article we overview the recent advances in dark-field/hyperspectral microscopy for the bioimaging of carbon nanotubes.
Highlights
Hyperspectral Microscopy for CarbonSince their first discovery in 1991 [1], carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have gained much attention from the various fields of science [2,3,4,5,6,7] and industry [8,9,10] as a material with prominent physicochemical characteristics
CNTs are formed by rolling up a graphene sheet, another allotropic form of carbon, consisting of hexagonally bonded atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern
We briefly introduce the background and fundamentals of dark-field microscopy
Summary
Since their first discovery in 1991 [1], carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have gained much attention from the various fields of science [2,3,4,5,6,7] and industry [8,9,10] as a material with prominent physicochemical characteristics. Electronbased imaging systems as well as SPM methods, such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) or scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM), are primarily used to define the ultrastructure of fabricated nanotubes and their mechanical properties, such as accurate dimensions, the number of layers, interlayer spacing, surface functionalisation, Young’s modulus, adhesion, and stiffness [34]. They are not suitable for dynamic bioimaging studies of nanotubes since such visualisation is either labour- and time-consuming or requires special conditions, invasive sampling, and expensive equipment. We summarise our conclusions and provide an outlook on future prospects
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