Carbon nanotubes: superfabric nanoscale theranostic materials

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been introduced for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications in the early 21st century. Due to their unique properties, the CNTs were initially found very promising for medical applications. However, their toxicity and poor water solubility remained challenging issues, which limited their usage. Over the past few decades, various strategies have been developed to suit CNTs for medical applications such as in drug delivery and targeting as well as tissue engineering. This chapter provides important insights into the structural properties of CNTs and discusses their biological behaviors and biomedical applications as a photothermal-sensitive agent in the development of stimuli-responsive nanosystems and nanoscale theranostics.