Degradation behavior, cytotoxicity, hemolysis of partially unzipped carbon nanotubes/zinc composites as potential biodegradable bone implants

Abstract

Zn with a suitable degradation rate is considered to be a promising candidate biodegradable implant materials. To enhance the mechanical properties of pure Zn and broaden its application in the field of short-term orthopedic surgery, a series of new Zn matrix composites with a high strength are developed by the addition of partially unzipped carbon nanotubes (PUCNTs), and the degradation behavior, cytotoxicity and hemolysis of new PUCNTs/Zn composites are investigated in this paper. The results show that the degradation rate of the PUCNTs/Zn composites with 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.5 wt.% PUCNTs can meet the standard of clinical biomedical orthopedic implant materials. During cytotoxicity test, the density of living cells rapidly increases with increasing PUCNTs content, and the cell viability of MG-63 cells in the extract with different concentrations is higher than 90%, illustrating an excellent cytocompatibility. For the hematotoxicity assay, the hemolysis percentage of all PUCNTs/Zn composites samples is below the safety threshold of 5.0% for clinical application, exhibiting a good blood compatibility.