Prof. Alexander Star
Abstract
Carbon Nanotube-Based Chemical Sensors and Drug Delivery Systems
Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and more recently graphene derivatives have attracted considerable interest for the development of chemical sensors. These carbon nanostructures are just one atom thick, and their electronic properties are extremely sensitive to adsorption of chemical species on their surface. When decorated with metal nanoparticles, metal organic frameworks (MOF) or antibodies, these nanostructures exhibit a large and selective electronic response toward many analytes with potential applications in medical diagnostics. Semiconducting SWCNTs have also excellent optical emission properties, which allow their use as in vivo fluorescence sensors. Jointly with Dr. Valerian E. Kagan, we investigated enzymatic oxidation and biodegradation of carbon nanomaterials using fluorescence spectroscopy. We also implemented enzymatically degradable carbon nanotubes as drug delivery systems with focus on the loading of these nanocontainers with therapeutic cargo and the targeted delivery for cancer therapy.
