Electrophoretic-deposited novel ternary silk fibroin/graphene oxide/hydroxyapatite nanocomposite coatings on titanium substrate for orthopedic applications

The combination of graphene oxide （GO） with robust mechanical property, silk fibroin （SF） with fascinating biological effects and hydroxyapatite （HA） with superior osteogenic activity is a competitive approach to make novel coatings for orthopedic applications. Herein, the feasibility of depositing ternary SF/GO/HA nanocomposite coatings on Ti substrate was firstly verified by exploiting electrophoretic nanotechnology, with SF being used as both a charging additive and a dispersion agent. The surface morphology, microstructure and composition, in vitro hemocompatibility and in vitro cytocompatibility of the resulting coatings were investigated by SEM, Raman, FTIR spectra and biocompatibiUty tests. Results demonstrated that GO, HA and SF could be co-deposited with a uniform, smooth thin-film morphology. The hemolysis rate analysis and the platelet adhesion test indicated good blood compatibility of the coatings. The human osteosarcoma MG63 cells displayed well adhesion and proliferation behaviors on the prepared coatings, with enhanced ALP activities. The present study suggested that SFIGO/HA nanocomposite coatings could be a promising candidate for the surface functionalization of biomaterials, especially as orthopedic implant coating.

A general synthesis strategy for the multifunctional 3D polypyrrole foam of thin 2D nanosheets

A 3D macroporous conductive polymer foam of thin 2D polypyrrole （PPy） nanosheets is developed by adopting a novel intercalation of guest （monomer Py） between the layers of the lamellar host （3D vanadium oxide foam） template-replication strategy. The 3D PPy foam of thin 2D nanosheets exhibits diverse functions including reversible compressibility, shape memory, absorption/adsorption and mechanically deformable supercapacitor characteristics. The as-prepared 3D PPy foam of thin nanosheets is highly light weight with a density of 12 mg·cm^-3 which can bear the large compressive strain up to 80% whether in wet or dry states; and can absorb organic solutions or extract dye molecules fast and efficiently. In particular, the PPy nanosheetbased foam as a mechanically deformable electrode material for supercapacitors exhibits high specific capacitance of 70 F·g^-1 at a fast charge-discharge rate of 50 mA·g^-1, superior to that of any other typical pure PPy-based capacitor. We envision that the strategy presented here should be applicable to fabrication of a wide variety of organic polymer foams and hydrogels of low-dimensional nanostructures and even inorganic foams and hydrogels of low-dimensional nanostructures, and thus allow for exploration of their advanced physical and chemical properties.