(Invited) Environmental Impact of Carbon Nanotubes & Graphene and Related Materials (GRMs)

Carbon nanomaterials (and especially carbon nanotubes) are often cited first when people are asked about "nanoparticles" in general. For some people, they represent a huge potential of applications due to their extraordinary properties (or more realistically because of their unique combination of different properties), while some others will mention first the (potential) related toxicity issues. We will quickly review different aspects related to the potential environmental toxicity of carbon nanomaterials and will summarize our main results in this field. In particular, we have identified that the impact of carbon nanomaterials with very different morphologies ranging from zero-D (nanodiamonds) to 2D (few-layer graphene, graphene oxide) can be generalized when the metric used for the comparison of the data is the surface (m²/L) instead of the weight (g/L) [1]. We will illustrate in the specific case of graphene oxide how the modification of surface chemistry (reduction) can be used to significantly decrease the risk during handling and use, in the framework of a "safer(r) by design" strategy [2]. Finally, we will give a brief overview of our recent work on the impact of carbon nanotubes on plants grown in contaminated soils. REFERENCES: [1] A. Mottier, F. Mouchet, C. Laplanche, S. Cadarsi, L. Lagier, J-C. Arnault, H. Girard, V. Léon, E. Vazquez, C. Sarrieu, E. Pinelli, L. Gauthier, E. Flahaut, Nano Letters, 16 (6), (2016), 3514-3518, "Surface area of carbon nanoparticle: a dose-metric for a more realistic ecotoxicological assessment" [2] L. Evariste, L. Lagier, P. Gonzalez, A. Mottier, F. Mouchet, S. Cadarsi, P. Lonchambon, G. Daffe, G. Chimowa, C. Sarrieu, A-M. Galibert, C. Matei Ghimbeu, E. Pinelli, E. Flahaut, L. Gauthier, Nanomaterials, 9, (2019), 584:1-16, "Thermal reduction of Graphene Oxide mitigates its in vivo genotoxicity toward Xenopus laevis tadpoles"