Carbon-based Nanomaterials: Carbon Nanotubes, Graphene, and Fullerenes for the Control of Burn Infections and Wound Healing

Burn injuries are extremely debilitating, resulting in high morbidity and mortality rates around the world. The risk of infection escalates in correlation with impairment of skin integrity, creating a barrier to healing and possibly leading to sepsis. With its numerous advantages over traditional treatment methods, nanomaterial-based wound healing has an immense capability of treating and preventing wound infections. Carbon-based nanomaterials (CNMs), owing to their distinctive physicochemical and biological properties, have emerged as promising platforms for biomedical applications. Carbon nanotubes, graphene, fullerenes, and their nanocomposites have demonstrated broad antimicrobial activity against invasive bacteria, fungi, and viruses causing burn wound infection. The specific mechanisms that govern the antimicrobial activity of CNMs must be understood in order to ensure the safe and effective incorporation of these structures into biomaterials. However, it is challenging to decouple individual and synergistic contributions of the physical, chemical, and electrical effects of CNMs on cells. This review reported significant advances in the application of CNMs in burn wound infection and wound healing, with a brief discussion on the interaction between different families of CNMs and microorganisms to assess antimicrobial performance.