Purpose: Nanostructured carbon nanomaterials (e.g., nanocrystalline diamond films and particles, carbon nanotubes, carbon onions, fullerenes, etc.) are being extensively explored for numerous biomedical applications in surgical implants, therapy, drug delivery, and biosensoring due to their interesting physical, chemical, and biological properties. Such applications of carbon nanomaterials often require specific surface functionality to be introduced for better integration of these materials with physiological environment. In the last decade, substantial progress has been made in the development of controllable surface modification methods and in the introduction of different functional groups on the surface of carbon nanomaterials. Design/methodology/approach: This paper briefly overviews the surface modification and functionalization approaches for various carbon nanomaterials, and it focuses on the plasma modification and functionalization of nanocrystalline diamond films, diamond nanoparticles, and carbon nanospheres. The results on the surface characterization using FTIR and XPS techniques, and the preliminary studies of cellular response to these modified carbon nanomaterials are presented and discussed. Findings: The results of surface modification of NCD films, detonation nanodiamonds, and carbon nanospheres, demonstrate the flexibility of nanocarbons to attain various surface functionality that can be adjusted for specific applications. It has been shown that neither of tested nanocarbon materials was cytotoxic in this study, although the attachement and proliferation of various cells was strongly affected by the specific type of surface functionalization. Research limitations/implications: At the present, it is not clear to what degree the available surface sites on NCD films or carbon nanoparticles can be occupied with functional groups. Furthermore, while there is clear selectivity of cellular response to H, O, and F surface-terminated NCD films, the role of specific type of surface groups present on carbon nanoparticles has yet to be determined. Practical implications: The development of optimal strategies to functionalize various nanocarbons will have strong impact on the design of efficient nanostructured surfaces and particles for a variety of biological and medical applications. Originality/value: This work adds new insights to the expanding research in biomedical applications of nanoscale carbon materials.
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