Carbon nanostructures with antibacterial and wound healing activities: recent progress and challenges

Abstract

The presence of pathogenic bacteria in the environment represents a significant public health problem. Due to the increasing resistance of bacterial species to conventional antibiotics, there is an urgent need to develop and implement alternative antibacterial approaches. In recent years, carbon-based nanostructures—such as graphene (GR), graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), graphene quantum dots (GQDs), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), carbon quantum dots (CQDs), fullerenes, and nanodiamonds (NDs) have shown great impact in biomedical sciences due to their outstanding physicochemical properties and beneficial features, including unique optical properties, high biocompatibility, environmental friendliness, low cost, good stability, excellent electron mobility, and the presence of various functional groups (e.g., hydroxyl, –NH₂, and –COOH). These materials have been extensively explored as promising materials for antibacterial and wound healing applications. Therefore, this review focuses on the synthetic approaches for fabrication of carbon-based nanostructures and their characterization using various analytical techniques. Additionally, the underlying mechanisms of their antibacterial and wound healing activities are examined. Finally, current challenges and limitations associated with their development are discussed to guide future research directions.