Preparation, Purification, Characterization, and Cytotoxicity Assessment of Water-Soluble, Transition-Metal-Free Carbon Nanotube Aggregates

摘要

Besides attracting the attention of scientists and engineers because of potential applications, carbon nanotubes (NTs) are also a subject of concern owing to potential medical and environmental problems. As the NTs belong to a class of graphite that is not toxic, the concern resides mainly in the effect of their nanometer dimensions and the tubular structure with curved surface and fullerene-like end caps. There have been conflicting reports on the biological effects of NTs, some reporting high and others low toxicity.