ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the issues related to health applications of a type of naturally occurring nanomaterial of great interest in academic and biomedical fields. Nanotechnology can be defined as the research and technology development at the atomic, molecular, or macromolecular levels, on the length scale in the 1−100 nm range. Nanomaterials are all nanoscale materials or materials that contain nanoscale structures internally or on their surfaces and include engineered and naturally occurring nano-objects, such as nanoparticles, nanoplates, and nanotubes (US National Nanotechnology Initiative. https://www.nano.gov (accessed September 24, 2013)).
