Metallic impurities in nanotubes can have a large effect on their toxicity How safe are carbon nanotubes?

摘要

A main factor in nanotubetoxicity are the metalcontaminants that remain frommanufacture, which are typicallyone to ten per cent by weight, sayMartin Pumera and Yuji Miyaharaat the National Institute forMaterials Science, Ibaraki, Japan.'Carbon nanotubes are oftenviewed as homogenous materials,which is of course incorrect -they often contain impuritieswhich are not even listed by themanufacturers,|' says Pumera. Thepair have used an electrochemicalmethod to assess the effect metalshave on nanotube toxicity. Theysay that their method is quickerand cheaper than laborious andexpensive biomedical tests and could be more useful for initialassessments of carbon nanotubetoxicity.