A Novel Synthesis Route to Produce Boron Nitride Nanotubes for Bioapplications

Abstract

Nanostructures of boron nitride have attracted a great deal of interest due to their potential applications that comprise a broad range of topics, including biomedical technology, since it presents good chemical stability and suggests good biological inertia. This paper reports a facile and effective synthesis based on CVD process with new conditions to produce boron nitride nanotubes in higher amount using boron powder, ammonium nitrate and hematite as catalysts in tubular furnace, without using extreme conditions. The characterization of the material was carried out by Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). From the results, it was possible to verify the production of a hexagonal BN nanotube filled with Fe nanoparticles. It was possible to understand the reactions involved in synthesis process, and also confirm the formation of hexagonal boron nitride nanotubes with iron nanoparticles as catalysts. Depending on the final use, samples need to be purified to analyze their unique properties in some bioapplications. In the other hand, sometimes BNNTs containing Fe nanoparticles have potential for use in therapeutic drug, gene and radionuclide delivery, and radio frequency methods for the catabolism of tumors via hyperthermia. In this sense, some application-related studies on BNNTs such as biocompatibility tests have also been investigated in both pure and BN nanotube filled with Fe

Functionalized Boron Nitride Applications in Biotechnology

“…This study demonstrated that even at the highest concentration, the cell viability was higher than 70%. This result reassures the findings of previous studies [29,37,38], confirming that, in concentrations below 200 μg/mL, BNNTs showed low cytotoxicity, and BNNTs do not appear to inhibit cell growth or induce apoptotic pathways in the cells. It should be noted that the high purity and quality of BNNTs are crucial for their nontoxicity [11,36].…”

“…The adequate modification process provides specific surfaces that allow its better solubility or dispersion in different solvents media playing an important role regarding selectivity, for instance, in biological systems [28]. These nanoparticles can be coated with biological molecules to facilitate their interaction with a living system, binding to a specific target, like tumor cells [29]. Regarding the tumor targeting strategies, the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect of nanomaterials is a key mechanism for solid tumor targeting, and it is considered a gold standard for novel radioisotopes design [30].…”

Nanostructured Boron Nitride With High Water Dispersibility For Boron Neutron Capture Therapy

“…This may be attributed to evaporation of water molecules. After 300 °C the line shows the thermal stability of boron nitride even at high temperature 62 .…”

Interaction of carbohydrate modified boron nitride nanotubes with living cells

“…The study found that the PEG 1000 -BNNT and CH-BNNT were cytotoxic at high concentrations (100 g/mL) while the GA-BNNT was not cytotoxic. Moreover, the hemocompatibility study of the unmodified BNNTs showed that they were hemocompatible on the malignant U87 (wild type p53) and T98 (mutant p53) glioblastoma, MCF-7 adenocarcinoma mammary gland cells and normal MRC-5 fibroblast lung cells [18].…”