Enhancement of the ferroelectricity of poly(vinylidene fluoride)/multiwalled carbon nanotube composite scaffolds and its effect on the cellular metabolic activity

Abstract

Abstract The highly polar surfaces having a strong effect on the cellular growth are desirable for the preparation of effective scaffolds. Here, we demonstrate that poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)/multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) composite films having a very high β-phase that shows the ferroelectric properties are quite effective for cell growth of RT4-D6P2T cells (Schwannoma cell line of rats), U87-MG (glioblastoma cell line of human) and SH-SY5Y (neuroblastoma cell line of human) cells. The contents of polar β-phase in the nanocomposite films could be finely tuned by the variation of MWCNT amount. The cell growth behavior of the three types of cells was congruent with the amount of the polar β-phase. Addition of 0.5 wt% MWCNT could generate 10% more β-phase in the composite, but show 250% more cell proliferation rates for all three cells than neat PVDF film after 7days of incubation. In vitro tests revealed synergy effects of scaffold’s stiffness and ferroelectricity on the cellular activity with the amount of MWCNT in the composite film.