Issue 29, 2023

Fighting bacterial pathogens with carbon nanotubes: focused review of recent progress

Abstract

The fast and global spread of bacterial resistance to currently available antibiotics results in a great and urgent need for alternative antibacterial agents and therapeutic strategies. Recent studies on the application of nanomaterials as antimicrobial agents have demonstrated their potential for the management of infectious diseases. Among the diverse palette of nanomaterials currently used in biomedical applications, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have gained massive interest given their many valuable properties, such as high thermal and electrical conductivity, tensile strength, flexibility convenient aspect ratio, and low fabrication costs. All these features are augmented by facile conjugation with functional groups. CNTs are currently available in many configurations, with two main categories being single-walled and multi-walled CNTs, depending on the number of rolled-up single-layer carbon atoms sheets making up the nanostructure. Both classes have been identified over the past years as promising antibacterial agents but the current level of understanding of their efficiency still harbors many pending questions. This mini-review surveys recent progress on the topic of antibacterial effects of CNTs and examines the proposed mechanisms of action(s) of different CNT typologies, placing the main focus on past studies addressing the antibacterial activity on Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, two prototypical Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens, respectively.

Graphical abstract: Fighting bacterial pathogens with carbon nanotubes: focused review of recent progress

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
16 Mar 2023
Accepted
13 Jun 2023
First published
29 Jun 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2023,13, 19682-19694

Fighting bacterial pathogens with carbon nanotubes: focused review of recent progress

M. Asaftei, M. Lucidi, C. Cirtoaje, A. Holban, C. A. Charitidis, F. Yang, A. Wu, G. A. Stanciu, Ö. Sağlam, V. Lazar, P. Visca and S. G. Stanciu, RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 19682 DOI: 10.1039/D3RA01745A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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