Toxicity of Carbon Nanomaterials

Abstract

The outstanding multidisciplinary applicability of nanomaterials has paved the path for the rapid advancement of nanoscience during the last few decades. Such technological progress subsequently results in an inevitable environmental exposure of nanomaterials. Presently, nanomaterials are employed in an extensive range of commercial products. Safe and sustainable incorporation of nanomaterials in industrial products requires a profound and comprehensive understanding of their potential toxicity. Among different nanomaterials, carbon nanomaterials marked its notable superiority toward the development of state-of-the-art nanotechnology due to the significant contribution of each of the carbon allotropes with varied dimensionality. The zero-dimensional fullerene, one-dimensional carbon nanotube, and two-dimensional graphene possess an exclusive combination of distinctive properties that are utilized in most of the nanotechnology-based products nowadays. However, potential risk factors are associated with the production and the use of carbon nanomaterials. Consequently, the number of studies regarding the assessment of the toxicity of these nanomaterials has increased rapidly in the past decade. This chapter will summarize the recent scientific efforts on the toxicity evaluation of different carbon nanomaterials.