A brief study of electrical and biological properties of BNT6BT/ZnO-HA Composite

Abstract

The discovery of the piezoelectric properties of natural bone and their influence on bone growth within scaffolds has spurred researchers to investigate a range of bio-piezoelectric composite materials. By exploring these materials, researchers aim to better understand how piezoelectricity can be harnessed to promote bone growth and tissue regeneration, potentially leading to new breakthroughs in the field of regenerative medicine. In this study, the piezoelectric material, Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3-0.6BaTiO3/nano ZnO (BNT6BT/ZnO) and the biological hydroxyapatite (HA) were separately synthesized using the sol-gel method. The composite samples consisting of BNT6BT/ZnO and HA were fabricated using isostatic cold pressing. The composition and phase structure were studied using the X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, and the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to study the microstructure and morphology. The presence of different phases and the distribution of elements were examined using EDAX elemental analysis and its corresponding maps. Among the composite samples the one containing 10 wt% HA (BNT6BT/ZnO-10HA) possessed the best dielectric properties. The Vickers hardness measurements showed that the addition of HA to the piezoelectric phase BNT6BT/ZnO results in higher hardness values, which expects to increase the fracture toughness of HA due to the higher elastic modulus to hardness ratio (E/H) of composite samples compared to pure HA. The in vitro bioactivity of the samples was tested in simulated body fluid (SBF) solution and the cell culture analysis was performed to examine the biocompatibility of the samples. Accordingly, apatite was deposited on the surface of the samples and all of the composite samples were bioactive. Furthermore, the BNT6BT/ZnO-10HA sample containing the largest amount of deposit showed the highest optical density (OD) in the MTT test.