Issue 3, 2017

Diamond nanostructures for drug delivery, bioimaging, and biosensing

Abstract

Diamond features an attractive combination of outstanding mechanical, optical, thermal and electrical properties; tunable surface characteristics; and unprecedented biocompatibility. Additionally, diamond can possess unique nitrogen–vacancy emission centers that are highly photostable and extremely sensitive to magnetic fields, temperatures, ion concentrations, and spin densities. With these inherent merits, diamond in various nanoscale configurations has demonstrated a variety of distinctive applications in a broad range of fields. In particular, research on diamond nanoparticles (0-dimensional structures) and arrays of diamond nanoneedles/nanowires (1-dimensional structures) has witnessed important and exciting progress in recent years. Here, we systematically review the superior properties of diamond nanomaterials and the nitrogen–vacancy centers they contain as well as their uses in biomedical applications, including biosensing, bioimaging and drug delivery. Moreover, systematic studies of the biocompatibility and toxicity of diamond nanostructures, which constitute an important issue for the biomedical applications of diamond that has not yet been thoroughly addressed in previous reviews, are also discussed. Finally, we present our insights into the key issues concerning these diamond nanomaterials and their future development for applications.

Graphical abstract: Diamond nanostructures for drug delivery, bioimaging, and biosensing

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
15 Feb 2016
First published
12 Dec 2016

Chem. Soc. Rev., 2017,46, 734-760

Author version available

Diamond nanostructures for drug delivery, bioimaging, and biosensing

X. Chen and W. Zhang, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2017, 46, 734 DOI: 10.1039/C6CS00109B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements