The distinctive physicochemical, mechanical and electrical

properties of carbon nanostructures are currently gaining

the interest of researchers working in bioengineering and

biomedical fields. Carbon nanotubes, carbon dendrimers, graphenic

platelets and nanodiamonds are deeply studied aiming

at their application in several areas of biology and medicine.

Here we provide a summary of the carbon nanomaterials

prepared in our labs and of the fabrication techniques used to

produce several biomedical utilities, from scaffolds for tissue

growth to cargos for drug delivery and to biosensors

Gay, S

Guglielmotti, V

Lavecchia, T

Matassa, R

Orlanducci, S

Reina, G

Rossi,M

Tamburri, E

Terranova, ML

PubMed

The distinctive physicochemical, mechanical and electrical
properties of carbon nanostructures are currently gaining
the interest of researchers working in bioengineering and
biomedical fields. Carbon nanotubes, carbon dendrimers, graphenic
platelets and nanodiamonds are deeply studied aiming
at their application in several areas of biology and medicine.
Here we provide a summary of the carbon nanomaterials
prepared in our labs and of the fabrication techniques used to
produce several biomedical utilities, from scaffolds for tissue
growth to cargos for drug delivery and to biosensors

REINA, GIACOMO

TAMBURRI, EMANUELA

ORLANDUCCI, Silvia

Gay, Stefano

MATASSA, ROBERTO

Guglielmotti, Valeria

LAVECCHIA, Teresa

Terranova, Maria Letizia

ROSSI, Marco

Archivio istituzionale della ricerca - Università di Camerino

Nanocarbon surfaces for biomedicine

Archivio della Ricerca - Università di Roma Tor vergata

 Review
www.landesbioscience.com Biomatter e28537-1
Biomatter 4, e28537; March 2014; © 2014 Landes Bioscience
Review
Introduction
The discipline of synthetic biomedical materials for nano-
medicine has evolved quite rapidly in the last years, and mate-
rials/components with suitable physical-chemical-mechanical 
properties combined with specifically designed surfaces radically 
changed the device industry and the main aspects of clinical 
care.1
Current biomaterials research is offering promising alterna-
tives to conventional medical devices, and functional systems 
engineered at the nanoscale are opening completely new routes to 
imaging/labeling, drug delivery, fabrication of artificial organs as 
well as of prosthetics and packaging systems.2 However, for bio-
medical applications, composition and structure of the surfaces 
and in particular of the bio-interfaces must meet strict require-
ments in terms of biocompatibility and long-time reliability. 
Recent studies demonstrated that, among the inorganic materials 
used in nanomedicine, the sp2 and sp3 hybridized nanocarbons 
have the primacy3.
The engineering of nanocarbon surfaces for bio-related appli-
cations is nowadays an emerging and rapidly developing research 
field, due to the outstanding properties of the carbon nanostruc-
tures and to the applications envisioned for platforms and multi-
valent architectures based on them.
In particular, the diamond surface is characterized by chemi-
cal inertness, full bio-compatibility and ultra-hardness. The 
nanodiamond surfaces can be terminated with H, O or OH-, and 
further versatility can be given by secondary functionalizations, 
that open the way to conjugations with a series of more complex 
entities, going from proteins to carbohydrates or nucleic acids.15
In our labs a series of strategies have been explored for the 
preparation of surfaces assembled with nanodiamonds, graph-
ite nanoplatelets, carbon nanotubes, helical and dendrimeric 
nanostructures. These nanostructured surfaces are proposed for 
a series of different applications, from drug delivery platforms 
to bioimplants, from scaffold for tissue-growth to site-specific 
molecular targeting and labeling.
This paper describes some chemical-physical approaches for 
the preparation of functional interfaces based on carbon nano-
tubes, carbon helical and dendrimeric nanostructures, graphenic 
platelets and nanodiamonds.
Materials Preparation and Characterization
Carbon Nanotubes, dendrimers and helical nanostructures
The synthetis strategies for the fabrication of specifi-
cally shaped surfaces assembled with single-walled nanotubes 
(SWCNT), dendrimers and helical structures rely on the use of 
purpose-designed Hot-Filament CVD apparatus.4
The growth of these sp2-coordinated carbon forms is obtained 
using carbon-containing feeding gases and atomic H. The carbon 
reagents are CH
4
 or amorphous carbon powders transported by 
inert gas fluxes. Typically CH
4
/H
2
 mixtures (at a flowing rate of 
about 200 sccm, with CH
4
 in the range 1–4%) or C-containing 
gaseous phases are delivered to the active area of the reactor, where 
a Ta filament activates the reactants and produces atomic hydro-
gen. The main conditions of the CVD synthesis are: filament 
temperature: 2200 ± 10 °C, substrate temperature: 600–800 °C, 
total pressure: 20–40 Torr. Depending on the preparation of the 
substrate, continuous deposits of SWCNT or bundles growths 
on selected areas can be produced. Moreover the growth can be 
modulated in order to obtain arrays of vertically aligned tubu-
lar nanostructures or entangled mats horizontally placed on the 
substrates. Dendrimers and helical nanostructures are obtained 
using carbon powders containing traces (ppm) of S.
Some examples of surfaces modified by carbon nanotubes, 
helical and dendrimeric structures are shown in Figure 1.
Graphenic platelets
Graphenic nanoplatelets are obtained from disruption of 
SWCNT by using high-shear mixing and/or treatments in 
*Correspondence to: Marco Rossi; Email: mrossi@sienabiotech.it
Submitted: 01/16/2014; Revised: 02/21/2014; Accepted: 03/14/2014; 
Published Online: 03/19/2014; http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/biom.28537
Nanocarbon surfaces for biomedicine
Giacomo Reina1,2, emanuela Tamburri1, Silvia Orlanducci1, Stefano Gay1, Roberto Matassa3, valeria Guglielmotti1,2,  
Teresa Lavecchia1, Maria Letizia Terranova1, and Marco Rossi3,*
1Dip. di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche–Minimalab; Università di Roma Tor vergata; Rome, italy; 2Nanoshare s.r.l.; Rome, italy; 3electron Microscopies and Nanoscopies (eMiNa) 
Lab; Department of Basic and Applied Sciences for engineering; Sapienza Nanotechnologies and Nanosciences (SNN) Lab; CNiS; Università di Roma Sapienza; Rome italy
Keywords: carbon nanostructures, bio-nanomaterials, scaffolds, nanomedicine.
The distinctive physicochemical, mechanical and electri-
cal properties of carbon nanostructures are currently gaining 
the interest of researchers working in bioengineering and 
biomedical fields. Carbon nanotubes, carbon dendrimers, gra-
phenic platelets and nanodiamonds are deeply studied aiming 
at their application in several areas of biology and medicine.
Here we provide a summary of the carbon nanomaterials 
prepared in our labs and of the fabrication techniques used to 
produce several biomedical utilities, from scaffolds for tissue 
growth to cargos for drug delivery and to biosensors.
e28537-2 Biomatter volume 4 
sulfonitric mixtures (60% HNO
3
, 95% H
2
SO
4
 in a 1:3 volume 
ratio) either at room or high temperatures (90 °C).
The adopted unzipping methodologies produces in each case 
graphitic f lakes, having no long-range translational or orienta-
tional order, and, depending on the different procedures, we 
already reported5 experimental evidence of different kinds of 
re-organization. The complementary use of electron diffraction 
and microscopy techniques evidence indeed very different inter-
actions between proximal units in samples obtained by differ-
ent disruption processes. In particular, it is possible to produce 
turbostratic arrangements of graphene planes with their perpen-
dicular c-axis not perfectly oriented along the same direction, 
nanomosaic arrangements of self-assembled flakes into an hex-
agonal graphite structure with P63/mcc symmetry, or randomly 
oriented graphitic platelets with smooth surfaces.5 Overall, the 
choice of specific disruption treatments and of suitable disper-
sion medium makes it possible to selectively produce differ-
ent assembling of graphene layers and obtain carbon platelets 
with pre-defined forms. In Figure 2 some typical assembling 
is reported. The use of these interesting graphenic materials is 
being proposed for various biomedical applications, from drug 
delivery to biosensing.6
Nanodiamonds
The nanodiamonds used for surface modifications are pro-
duced by two different routes.
The first one makes use of nanodiamond commercial pow-
ders generated by detonation of carbon precursors in an inert 
medium. The structure of a single “detonation nanodiamond” 
(DN) crystallite consists of a sp3-coordinated C core surrounded 
by a thin graphitic shell.7 The sizes of the polyhedral grains are 
in the range 4–10 nm. Nanodiamonds are characterized by a 
complex surface chemistry and by a facet-dependent surface 
potential, that are responsible of strong interactions occurring 
between the crystallites, and that give rise to tight aggregates 
with large size (hundreds microns). The re-dispersion of DN 
into single particles is a challenging task, that needs the settling 
of specific chemical-physical protocols to avoid re-aggregation of 
the primary nanoparticles.8,9 In our labs stable colloidal disper-
sions of DN are obtained by mechanical treatments and chemi-
cal functionalizations. A proper setting of solvent and drying 
methods enables to produce all-nanodiamond solid structures 
with predefined architectures10.Some examples of DN shaped 
deposits are reported in Figure 3.
As regards the second route, we have devised schemes for 
creating nanometer-scale 3D structures (nanorods, nanowhis-
kers, nanopillars, nanocones) by the sculpturing of plane dia-
mond films. The poly- or nano-crystalline diamond films are 
produced by HF- CVD, following previously settled method-
ologies.11,12 The nanometric control of materials morphology is 
obtained by means of a controlled temperature H etching (from 
room temperature to 1000 °C),13 using a custom-made dual-
mode MW-RF plasma reactor. In Figure 4 are shown some 
examples of nanostructures obtained by H-etching processes 
applied to previously produced diamond films or occurring dur-
ing the diamond synthesis performed using the MW-RF CVD 
reactor.14
Figure 1. SeM images of: (A) deposits of vertically aligned SwCNT grown 
on selected areas of a patterned substrate; (B) helical carbon nanostruc-
tures; (C) carbon dendrimers; and (D) large area deposit of entangled 
SwCNT mats horizontally placed on a substrate.
Figure 2. SeM images of: (A) overlapped platelets in a plane perpendicu-
lar to the e-beam; (B and C) some isolated/individual platelets with the 
e-beam near-parallel to their surfaces.
www.landesbioscience.com Biomatter e28537-3
Discussion and Conclusions
A variety of different strategies can be used for the prepara-
tion of specifically shaped and/or terminated surfaces enabling 
nanocarbon-based bioapplications. Both sp2 and sp3 nanocarbons 
can selectively bind various biological molecules and represent 
new classes of bioactive delivery vehicles.
As regards the graphitic nanocarbons, this class couples a 
good biocompatibility with outstanding mechanical and charge 
transport properties, that make them very well qualified for a 
series of bio-analytical applications. Moreover these materials can 
be easily stacked to fabricate low-cost, large-area membranes with 
controlled porosity.
Carbon nanotubes, helical structures, dendrimers and graph-
ite nanoplatelets with various size, shape and specific surface 
functionality imparted by tailored attachment schemes, are 
therefore proposed as sensing elements and reinforcing agents for 
bio-devices, as well as tools for separating and purifying biologi-
cal systems.
In this context, nanodiamond is proposed for selective attach-
ment of targeting groups and for controlled administration of 
therapeutic agents. Nanodiamond particles have suitable proper-
ties to be linked to functional groups and complex molecules by 
pure Van der Waals interactions, but also by chemical bonds of 
different nature, such as covalent or electrostatic bonding.
It has been also probed that nanodiamond is an excellent sub-
strate for the adhesion and growth of several types of cells in vitro. 
DN-shaped surfaces are presently considered attractive scaffolds 
for tissue growth, and good candidates for bio-implants, whereas 
nanodiamond elongated structures (nanorods, nanowhiskers, 
nanopillars, nanocones) with well defined arrangement of mol-
ecules on the tips are proposed as drug delivery cargos.
Overall, nanodiamond opened new scenarios in the design of 
systems for biomedical applications: it can be used to image or 
label biomolecules and to assist in drug delivery, making pos-
sible to define new reliable and effective strategies for theranostic 
approaches.
An interdisciplinary methodology and the collaboration of 
researchers from bio-related areas are needed in order to imple-
ment the above reported research topics and to translate these 
modified carbon nanostructures into potential smart medical 
materials.
Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest
No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.
Figure  3. (A and B) SeM images of all-diamond solid structures pro-
duced with nanodiamond particles.
Figure 4. SeM images of diamond (A and B) nanocones, (C) nanopillars 
and (D) nanowhiskers produced by the sculpturing of plane diamond 
films by means of Mw-RF CvD plasma reactor.
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