Biomass-derived nanocarbon materials for biological applications: challenges and prospects. Issue 42 (1st October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Karahan, H. Enis; Ji, Mengdi; Pinilla, José Luis; Han, Xiaoxing; Mohamed, Abdelrhman; Wang, Liang; Wang, Yilei; Zhai, Shengli; Montoya, Alejandro; Beyenal, Haluk; Chen, Yuan
• Is Part Of: Journal of materials chemistry. Volume 8:Issue 42(2020)
• Page Start: 9668
• Page End: 9678
• Publication Date: 2020-10-01
• Subjects: Materials -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Analytic -- Periodicals; Biomedical materials -- Research -- Periodicals; 543.0284
• DOI: 10.1039/d0tb01027h
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-750X

Abstract

Abstract : This review discusses the current status and future potential of biomass-derived nanocarbons for a wide range of biomedical/environmental applications, including bioimaging, microbial inactivation, wound care, and microbial electrochemical systems. Abstract : Biomass-derived nanocarbons (BNCs) have attracted significant research interests due to their promising economic and environmental benefits. Following their extensive uses in physical and chemical research domains, BNCs are now growing in biological applications. However, their practical biological applications are still in their infancy, requiring critical evaluations and strategic directions, which are provided in this review. The carbonization of biomass sources and major types of BNCs are introduced, encompassing carbon nanodots, nanofibres, nanotubes, and graphenes. Next, essential biological uses of BNCs, antibacterial/antibiofilm materials (nanofibres and nanodots) and bioimaging agents (predominantly nanodots), are summarized. Furthermore, the future potential of BNCs, for designing wound dressing/healing materials, water and air disinfection platforms, and microbial electrochemical systems, is discussed. We reach the conclusion that a crucial challenge is the structural control of BNCs. Furthermore, a key knowledge gap for realizing practical biological applications is the lack of systematic comparisons of BNCs with nanocarbons of synthetic origin in the current literature. Although we did not attempt to perform an exhaustive literature survey, the evaluation of the existing results indicates that BNCs are promising as easily accessible materials for various biomedically and environmentally relevant applications.