Nanocarbon-based materials and devices: Chemistry and applications

碳纳米管（CNT）和石墨烯等碳纳米材料由于其优异的物理、化学和机械性能，在众多的研究和技术领域带来了新的机遇和挑战。此外，纳米碳与生物聚合物和矿物质的化学改性和组装可以产生生物相容性并赋予特定生物功能的杂化材料。该NSERC发现研究计划旨在为一系列化学和生物医学应用创建基于纳米碳和纳米碳生物混合物的先进材料和设备。材料合成，表面化学改性，物理化学表征，微/纳米纤维和3D打印方法的组合将被利用。该计划分为三个面向应用的主题：*a。纳米多孔膜和纳米流体装置 * 具有限制传输介质中离子或分子流动的亚10 nm孔的膜和装置可以在食品加工、生物反应器和生物技术、天然气净化、燃料电池和水净化中找到应用。目的是使用碳纳米管、石墨烯和氧化石墨烯设计这样的膜和装置，以实现增强的流体动力学流动，同时保持对水净化和溶剂分离的高选择性。B.碳纳米管生物传感器 * 预防和控制疾病爆发的关键是最大限度地减少有害病原体（如病毒、细菌）在被检测到之前在循环中所花费的时间。我们的目标是开发基于碳纳米管生物传感器的低成本和便携式设备，用于快速筛查食源性和水源性病原体。这些设备将满足低收入国家预防传染病的需要，以及全世界食品生产中常规监测的工业需要。C.将纳米电子学整合到组织中从根本上说是纳米科学和生物学之间的一种新方法。我们的目标是通过使用还原的氧化石墨烯将功能性电子器件整合到合成组织中，以形成柔性电子元件，如电极和传感器。最终，我们的研究可能会导致制造能够远程电刺激和连续监测生理过程的组织/器官的破坏性技术，这可以在药物筛选，生物机器人和植入物中找到重要的应用。

Carbon nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotube (CNT) and graphene, present lots of new opportunities and challenges in a wide range of research and technology fields due to their extraordinary physical, chemical, and mechanical properties. Further, chemical modification and assembly of nanocarbon with biopolymers and minerals can lead to hybrid materials that are biocompatible and impart specific bio-funtionalities. This NSERC discovery research program aims to create advanced materials and devices based on nanocarbon and nanocarbon-bio hybrids for a range of chemical and biomedical applications. A combination of material synthesis, surface chemical modification, physical chemistry characterization, micro/nanofabrication, and 3D printing approaches will be utilized.***The program is divided into three application-oriented themes:***a. Nanoporous membranes and nanofluidic devices***Membranes and devices with sub-10 nm pores that restrict the flow of ions or molecules in transport media can find applications in food processing, bioreactors and biotechnology, natural gas purification, fuel cell, and water purification. The aim is to design such membranes and devices using carbon nanotube, graphene, and graphene oxide to achieve enhanced hydrodynamic flow while maintaining high selectivity for water purification and solvent separation.***b. Carbon nanotube biosensors***Crucial to the prevention and control of disease outbreaks is to minimize the time that harmful pathogens (e.g. virus, bacteria) spend in circulation before they are detected. Our aim is to develop low-cost and portable devices based on carbon nanotube biosensors for rapid screening of food- and water- borne pathogens. Such devices will address the need in low-income countries for the prevention of infectious diseases, as well as industrial needs for routine surveillance in food manufacturing worldwide.***c. Merging tissue and nanoelectronics***Integrate nanoelectronics into tissues is fundamentally a new approach at the interface between nanoscience and biology. Our objective is to incorporate functional electronic devices into synthetic tissues by using reduced graphene oxide to form flexible electronic components, such as electrodes and sensors. Ultimately, our research could lead to disruptive technologies for the fabrication of tissues/organs capable of remote electrical stimulation and continuous monitoring of physiological processes, which can find important applications in drug screening, biorobotics, and implantables.**