Synthesis of Ferromagnetic Filled Carbon Nanotubes and their Biomedical Application

Abstract

Especially during last years, fundamental discoveries of various species and modifications of carbon nanotubes have stimulated research on their application including in human medicine. The success of these applications depends significantly on the physical, chemical and biological properties of the carbon nanotubes and their supplements. In our presentation we report on the synthesis of Fe-filled carbon nanotubes, their structural and magnetic properties and propose novel types of such functionalised and filled multiwalled carbon nanotubes with various advantages for an application in human medicine, especially in anti-tumour therapeutic concepts. These nanotube structures represent multi-functional nano-scaled containers for different medical treatments including magnetically guided hyperthermia. Furthermore these chemical inert and stable carbon nanocontainer can be act as a new drug delivery carrier system. In principle, both, a filling of nanotubes by an open-fill-close process or an attachment of argents on the outside of the carbon nanotube is possible.