1^st International Conference On Diamond and Carbon

Applications of Nano-diamond in drug delivery

Nanodiamonds are diamonds of ~5 nm in size. They can be produced by impact events such as an explosion or meteoritic impacts. A single imperfection can give a nanodiamond an isolated color center, which lets it function as single, trapped atom. Relative to the defect size, they have huge surface areas that allow them to bond with a variety of other materials. Their non-toxicity means that nanodiamonds may be useful in biomedical and mechanical applications. Although the potential of nanodiamond in drug delivery has been demonstrated, fundamental mechanisms, thermodynamics, and kinetics of drug adsorption on nanodiamond are still poorly understood. To fully exploit the potential of nanodiamond in drug delivery, attention must be paid to its purity, surface chemistry, dispersion quality, as well as to temperature, ionic composition, and other parameters of the environment that may influence drug adsorption and desorption on nanodiamond.