# Biocompatible Dispersants for Carbon Nanomaterials
## 7 Conclusions
Polymer wrapping was also introduced, although it is yet to be extensively studied for materials such as graphene and carbon nano-onions (CNOs). However, examples do exist for carbon nanotubes (CNTs) [35]. Polymer dispersants have many advantages over small molecule surfactants, as they can be designed to incorporate fluorophores, targeting ligands, and drug molecules. While not the most effective, alkyl chain surfactants were ubiquitous in the literature and excelled at de-bundling CNMs. BAS and cellulose were found to be excellent bioinspired dispersants. Overall, there are many different options for non-covalently dispersing CNMs for use in biomedical applications, as highlighted in this review. There exist many methods of dispersing CNMs in aqueous solutions; however, bioinspired dispersants such as those mentioned above will likely be vital in the future biomedical uses of CNMs. Cellulose-based dispersants combine strong dispersing abilities with biocompatibility, widespread availability, and cheap cost. This makes them perfect for dispersing CNMs on an industrial scale. BASs are also powerful surfactants that are both cheap and naturally occurring; this makes them ideal for biomedical applications when used in small amounts. Alkyl chain surfactants (ACSs) are ubiquitous in the literature and their chemistry is well studied. The future of this class of incredibly useful dispersants will likely involve the development of gemini surfactants to improve their dispersion efficiency and effectiveness. Polymer wrapping will likely prove to be indispensable, especially when the combined drug carrying, imaging, and targeting properties of conjugate polymers are further explored. The mechanics of polymer wrapping are not well understood for many nanomaterials such as CNOs, hence more work is needed in this area. The adaptation of the \(\eta^{*}\) metric in future studies will allow for easier comparison between different dispersants. The possibility of customising a dispersant for a particular nanomaterial by considering factors such as complementarity is also an exciting development that will likely result in the development of extremely efficient surfactants. [PERSON] wrote the initial draft of the manuscript and prepared the figures. [PERSON] proofread and edited the manuscript. [PERSON] conceived the original idea, supervised and edited the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. The Irish Research Council (IRC) is gratefully acknowledged for providing a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship (GOIPG) (grant number GOIPG/2021/210) to [PERSON]; and a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship (GOIPG) (grant number GOIPG/2019/1820) to [PERSON]. Not applicable. The authors wish to thank [PERSON] for his valuable proofreading and feedback. The authors declare no conflict of interest. The following abbreviations are used in this manuscript:  
ACS alkyl chain surfactant  
BAS bile acid salt  
CMC critical micelle concentration  
CNF(s) cellulose nano-fibril(s)  
CNM(s) carbon nanomaterial(s)  
CNO(s) carbon nano-onion(s)  
CNTs carbon nanotube(s)