Micro-Raman study of the role of sterilization on carbon nanotubes for biomedical applications.
OBJECTIVE
We investigate the effect of four different types of sterilization procedures on the structural properties and morphological features of single-wall carbon nanotube samples approachable by micro-Raman spectroscopy. Sterilization procedures (treatment in humid heat autoclave or ethylene oxide and irradiation with gamma-rays or UV light) are necessary in view of the use of carbon nanotube sterile samples in in vivo toxicity tests on laboratory rats. Micro-Raman spectroscopy allows us to estimate several details about the morphology of the single-wall carbon nanotube mixture (mainly the presence of disorder and diameter distribution) before and after the sterilization treatment.


RESULTS
The best of these treatments, in other words, the one that least affected the morphology and structural properties of carbon nanotubes, was found to be UV irradiation and has thus been selected for future in vivo tests on rats.
INFN-Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Via E. Fermi 40, I-00044 Frascati, Italy. stefano.bellucci@lnf.infn.it
Stefano
S
Bellucci
Massimo
M
Chiaretti
Pasquale
P
Onorato
Francesco
F
Rossella
Marco Simone
MS
Grandi
Pietro
P
Galinetto
Immacolata
I
Sacco
Federico
F
Micciulla
D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D005027:Ethylene Oxide / Q000737:chemistry; D005720:Gamma Rays; D008422:Materials Testing; D008823:Micelles; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D011312:Pressure; D051381:Rats; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000379:methods*; D013242:Sterilization; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D008823:Micelles; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D005027:Ethylene Oxide