Carbon nanostructures in biology and medicine

Abstract

Carbon nanostructures have unique physical, chemical, and electrical properties, which have attracted great interest from scientists. They are being successfully implemented in sensing, biomedical and biological related studies. This review selectively analyzes current advances in the field of carbon nanostructure bioapplications. A very detailed review is presented on how carbon nanomaterials are currently exploited for biosensing and biomedical applications. To begin with, properties of carbon nanostructures will be discussed, involving their unusual structure, extraordinary electronic properties and fascinating electron transport. The next major section deals with the exciting progress related to carbon materials in electrochemistry, including electrochemical sensing, biomedical and biological applications. We classify biosensors developed so far by their signal generation strategy and provide a comprehensive overview of them. In addition, we offer insights into how the carbon nanostructures are used in each sensor system and how they improve the sensing performance. Finally, prospects and further developments in this exciting field of carbon materials are also suggested. In particular, the biofunctionalization of carbon nanostructures for biomedical applications, biosensor development by using carbon nanomaterials, and the investigation of carbon nanomaterials for living cell studies are summarized in more detail. Future perspectives and possible challenges in this rapidly developing area are also discussed.