Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene - Research and Applications

The sonication of SWCNTs with a variety of biomolecules, and subsequent purification, resulted in formation of stable isotropic dispersions. These biodispersions were drop cast onto several conducting substrates to form smooth adherent biofilms. When these biofilms were immersed into phosphate buffer they became hydrated and formed a conducting gel with lower impedance than the underlying substrate. The neurotrophic factor NT-3 was incorporated into this formulation and with the application of an electrical stimulus to the conducting gel resulted in an increase in the rate of NT-3 release.
It was found that the conducting gels served as an excellent platform for fibroblast cell growth. The absence of cytotoxicity, combined with a conducting and biofactor release capabilities suggest that these novel composite materials are likely to be good candidates for use biomedical applications. Given the interest in the use of electrical stimulation to enhance mammalian cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation and the emerging interest in the use of
preferred nanotopographies to engender similar effects, these new biomaterial platforms have interesting and relevant features.
(From: Thompson BC et al., Carbon (2009), in press, doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2009.01.013)