Onion-Like Carbon Nanostructures: An Overview of Bio-Applications

Abstract

This article presents a brief review of the knowledge concerning onion-like carbons (OLCs). These nanostructures are some of the most fascinating carbon forms due to their unusual structure and physico-chemical properties. Generally, OLCs consist of a hollowspherical fullerene core surrounded by concentric graphitic layers with increasing diameter. Nevertheless, they can have different size, shape and type of core, which determine their physicochemical properties. In this article, we review the most important literature reports in this area and briefly describe these nanostructures, their physical and chemical properties and their potential uses with a focus on biomedicine.

Keywords: Onion-like nanostructures; bioapplications; composites; functionalization; multi-layered fullerenes; physicochemical properties..