Biocompatibility of conformal silicon carbide on carbon nanowall scaffolds

Abstract

Silicon carbide (SiC) was coated onto carbon nanowall (CNW) scaffolds using chemical vapor deposition with a vinylsilane precursor at 700 °C to investigate the influence of the wall edge width, wall-to-wall distance, and surface morphology. The wall edge width ranged from 10 nm to those filling the wall-to-wall space without disrupting the CNW morphology. When SiC-coated CNWs (SiC/CNWs) were used as scaffolds for cell culture, cell viability increased until the edge area ratio reached 40%. In over 40% of edge area ratio, cell viability was saturate and comparable to flat surfaces such as SiC films on the Si substrate (SiC/Si) and control samples prepared using polystyrene. Calcification was suppressed in the CNWs, SiC/CNWs, and SiC/Si scaffolds compared to polystyrene. Our results suggest that SiC-coated CNW scaffolds could suppress calcification and promote cell proliferation.