Engineering plants with carbon nanotubes: a sustainable agriculture approach

Sustainable agriculture is an important conception to meet the growing food demand of the global population. The increased need for adequate and safe food, as well as the ongoing ecological destruction associated with conventional agriculture practices are key global challenges. Nanomaterials are being developed in the agriculture sector to improve the growth and protection of crops. Among the various engineered nanomaterials, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are one of the most promising carbon-based nanomaterials owing to their attractive physiochemical properties such as small size, high surface area, and superior mechanical and thermal strength, offering better opportunities for agriculture sector applications. This review provides basic information about CNTs, including their history; classification; and electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties, with a focus on their applications in the agriculture field. Furthermore, the mechanisms of the uptake and translocation of CNTs in plants and their defense mechanisms against environmental stresses are discussed. Finally, the major shortcomings, threats, and challenges of CNTs are assessed to provide a broad and clear view of the potential and future directions for CNT-based agriculture applications to achieve the goal of sustainability.

Carbon Nanotubes-Based Nanomaterials and Their Agricultural and Biotechnological Applications

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are considered a promising nanomaterial for diverse applications owing to their attractive physicochemical properties such as high surface area, superior mechanical and thermal strength, electrochemical activity, and so on. Different techniques like arc discharge, laser vaporization, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and vapor phase growth are explored for the synthesis of CNTs. Each technique has advantages and disadvantages. The physicochemical properties of the synthesized CNTs are profoundly affected by the techniques used in the synthesis process. Here, we briefly described the standard methods applied in the synthesis of CNTs and their use in the agricultural and biotechnological fields. Notably, better seed germination or plant growth was noted in the presence of CNTs than the control. However, the exact mechanism of action is still unclear. Significant improvements in the electrochemical performances have been observed in CNTs-doped electrodes than those of pure. CNTs or their derivatives are also utilized in wastewater treatment. The high surface area and the presence of different functional groups in the functionalized CNTs facilitate the better adsorption of toxic metal ions or other chemical moieties. CNTs or their derivatives can be applied for the storage of hydrogen as an energy source. It has been observed that the temperature widely influences the hydrogen storage ability of CNTs. This review paper highlighted some recent development on electrochemical platforms over single-walled CNTs (SWCNTs), multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs), and nanocomposites as a promising biomaterial in the field of agriculture and biotechnology. It is possible to tune the properties of carbon-based nanomaterials by functionalization of their structure to use as an engineering toolkit for different applications, including agricultural and biotechnological fields.

Improved Performance of Glucose Bioanodes Using Composites of (7,6) Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and a Ferrocene-LPEI Redox Polymer

The effect of incorporating different types of carbon nanotubes into composite films of a redox polymer (FcMe₂-C₃-LPEI) and glucose oxidase (GOX) was investigated. The composite films were constructed by first forming a high-surface area network film of either single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) or multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) by solution casting of a suspension of Triton-X-100 dispersed SWNTs. Next a glucose responsive redox hydrogel was formed on top of the nanotube-modified electrode by cross-linking FcMe₂-C₃-LPEI with glucose oxidase via ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (EGDGE). Electrochemical and enzymatic measurements showed that composite films made with (7,6) SWNTs produced a higher response (3.3 mA/cm²) to glucose than films made with (6,5) SWNTs (1.8 mA/cm²) or MWNTs (1.2 mA/cm²) or films made without SWNTs (0.7 mA/cm²). We also show that the response of the composite films could be systematically varied by fabricating SWNT films with different weight ratios of (7,6) and (6,5) SWNTs. Optimization of the (7,6) SWNTs loading and the redox polymer-enzyme film produced a glucose response of 11.2 mA/cm². Combining the optimized glucose films with a platinum oxygen breathing cathode into a biofuel cell produced a maximum power density output of 343 μW/cm².

Ballistic Fracturing of Carbon Nanotubes

Advanced materials with multifunctional capabilities and high resistance to hypervelocity impact are of great interest to the designers of aerospace structures. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with their lightweight and high strength properties are alternative to metals and/or metallic alloys conventionally used in aerospace applications. Here we report a detailed study on the ballistic fracturing of CNTs for different velocity ranges. Our results show that the highly energetic impacts cause bond breakage and carbon atom rehybridizations, and sometimes extensive structural reconstructions were also observed. Experimental observations show the formation of nanoribbons, nanodiamonds, and covalently interconnected nanostructures, depending on impact conditions. Fully atomistic reactive molecular dynamics simulations were also carried out in order to gain further insights into the mechanism behind the transformation of CNTs. The simulations show that the velocity and relative orientation of the multiple colliding nanotubes are critical to determine the impact outcome.

Highly energetic compositions based on functionalized carbon nanomaterials

In recent years, research in the field of carbon nanomaterials (CNMs), such as fullerenes, expanded graphite (EG), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene, and graphene oxide (GO), has been widely used in energy storage, electronics, catalysts, and biomaterials, as well as medical applications. Regarding energy storage, one of the most important research directions is the development of CNMs as carriers of energetic components by coating or encapsulation, thus forming safer advanced nanostructures with better performances. Moreover, some CNMs can also be functionalized to become energetic additives. This review article covers updated preparation methods for the aforementioned CNMs, with a more specific orientation towards the use of these nanomaterials in energetic compositions. The effects of these functionalized CNMs on thermal decomposition, ignition, combustion and the reactivity properties of energetic compositions are significant and are discussed in detail. It has been shown that the use of functionalized CNMs in energetic compositions greatly improves their combustion performances, thermal stability and sensitivity. In particular, functionalized fullerenes, CNTs and GO are the most appropriate candidate components in nanothermites, solid propellants and gas generators, due to their superior catalytic properties as well as facile preparation methods.