Mechanical Properties and Biomineralization of Multifunctional Nanodiamond-PLLA Composites for Bone Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Multifunctional bone scaffold materials have been produced from a biodegradable polymer, poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA), and 1-10% wt of octadecylamine-functionalized nanodiamond (ND-ODA) via solution casting followed by compression molding. By comparison to pure PLLA, the addition of 10% wt of ND-ODA resulted in a significant improvement of the mechanical properties of the composite matrix, including a 280% increase in the strain at failure and a 310% increase in fracture energy in tensile tests. The biomimetic process of bonelike apatite growth on the ND-ODA/PLLA scaffolds was studied using microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. The enhanced mechanical properties and the increased mineralization capability with higher ND-ODA concentration suggest that these biodegradable composites may potentially be useful for a variety of biomedical applications, including scaffolds for orthopedic regenerative engineering.

Department(s)

Chemistry

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0142-9612

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2012 Elsevier BV, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2012

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