Safe Clinical Use of Carbon Nanotubes as Innovative Biomaterials

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are structurally described as sheets of six-membered carbon atom rings rolled up into cylinders. CNTs with only one layer are known as single-walled CNTs (SWCNT), and those with two or more layers are known as multi-walled CNTs (MWCNT). The reasons are that CNTs have useful electrical, thermal, and mechanical characteristics, and their base material performance can be improved by combination with other materials. A recent industrial application of CNTs as an electrode additive to lithium-ion batteries is based on their excellent electrical characteristics. One reason for the intense competition to find biomaterial applications of CNTs and for the great potential of CNTs to advance medical care is their small size, which makes them suitable to react with living organisms.