Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been extensively studied as one of the most interesting nanomaterials for over 25 years because they exhibit excellent mechanical, electrical, thermal, optical, and electrical properties. In the past decade, the number of publications and patents on cellulose and nanocellulose (NC) increased tenfold. Research on NC with excellent mechanical properties, flexibility, and transparency is accelerating due to the growing environmental problems surrounding us such as CO2 emissions, the accumulation of large amounts of plastic, and the depletion of energy resources such as oil. Research on mixed materials of cellulose, NC, and CNTs has been expanding because these materials exhibit various characteristics that can be controlled by varying the combination of cellulose, NC to CNTs while also being biodegradable and recyclable. An understanding of these mixed materials is required because these characteristics are diverse and are expected to solve various environmental problems. Thus far, many review papers on cellulose, NC or CNTs have been published. Although guidance for the suitable application of these mixed materials is necessary, there are few reviews summarizing them. Therefore, this review introduces the application and feature on mixed materials of cellulose, NC and CNTs.
Recent progress in the combination of nucleic acids and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has been briefly reviewed here. Since discovering the hybridization phenomenon of DNA molecules and CNTs in 2003, a large amount of fundamental and applied research has been carried out. Among thousands of papers published since 2003, approximately 240 papers focused on biological applications were selected and categorized based on the types of nucleic acids used, but not the types of CNTs. This survey revealed that the hybridization phenomenon is strongly affected by various factors, such as DNA sequences, and for this reason, fundamental studies on the hybridization phenomenon are important. Additionally, many research groups have proposed numerous practical applications, such as nanobiosensors. The goal of this review is to provide perspective on biological applications using hybrids of nucleic acids and CNTs.
1 January 2013 in Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces