Biomolecule‐Directed Carbon Nanotube Self‐Assembly

Abstract

The strategy of combining biomolecules and synthetic components to develop biohybrids is becoming increasingly popular for preparing highly customized and biocompatible functional materials. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) benefit from bioconjugation, allowing their excellent properties to be applied to biomedical applications. This study reviews the state‐of‐the‐art research in biomolecule–CNT conjugates and discusses strategies for their self‐assembly into hierarchical structures. The review focuses on various highly ordered structures and the interesting properties resulting from the structural order. Hence, CNTs conjugated with the most relevant biomolecules, such as nucleic acids, peptides, proteins, saccharides, and lipids are discussed. The resulting well‐defined composites allow the nanoscale properties of the CNTs to be exploited at the micro‐ and macroscale, with potential applications in tissue engineering, sensors, and wearable electronics. This review presents the underlying chemistry behind the CNT‐based biohybrid materials and discusses the future directions of the field.

Carbon Nanotubes: Current Perspectives on Diverse Applications in Targeted Drug Delivery and Therapies

“…Their results are contrary to what was previously thought, which is that CNTs are not broken in the body. This behavior of how myeloperoxidase transforms CNTs into the water and carbon dioxide can be a big advantage for medicine and is, therefore, a breakthrough in nanotoxicology and nanotechnology, although this shows clearly that endogenous myeloperoxidase can break down CNT [142][143][144][145].…”

Self-Assembling Peptides and Carbon Nanomaterials Join Forces for Innovative Biomedical Applications

“…The development of biohybrids based on self-assembling biomolecules and CNTs is gaining momentum [ 167 ]. In particular, the similar anisotropic morphology of CNTs and peptide fibrils can favor the formation of hybrid materials, whereby the two components are intimately connected, and the resulting hydrogels display enhanced mechanical properties relative to the systems without CNTs [ 66 , 98 ].…”

Green Approaches to Carbon Nanostructure-Based Biomaterials

“…Besides tissue engineering [173], CNTs have also been proposed to attain antimicrobial and anti-adhesive surfaces for medical applications [174]. Their bioconjugation can serve a variety of innovative applications that span from tissue engineering, to sensing and wearable electronics [175], and, in general, to prepare innovative biomedical electrodes [176]. Their biodegradation is possible, depending also on experimental conditions, route of degradation, and CNT functionalization [43].…”