Fabrication of Dielectrically Sensitive Carbon Nanotube/Polyethylene Nanohybrid Shish-Kebab Structure for Potential Tissue Engineering Applications

Abstract

Carbon nanotube (CNT)/polymer nanohybrid shish-kebab (NHSK) structure is a unique approach to functionalize CNTs and mimic the hierarchical architecture of native collagen fibrils in the extracellular matrix (ECM), owing to their favorable geometric similarity. This study thus aimed at combining the unique NHSK architecture of CNTs with their favorable dielectric properties to fabricate a collagen-like, dielectrically sensitive and biocompatible material. The NHSK structure was fabricated with CNTs and polyethylene (PE) by means of a solution crystallization technique. Configuration of PE in terms of molecular weight and structure was found to be one of the important factors that determined the morphology of the NHSK. Moreover, the material was exposed to dielectrophoresis (DEP) to guide the deposition of CNT/PE NHSK into the directional pattern. The PE-decorated CNTs exhibited enhanced dielectrophoretic sensitivity and controllable structural alignment, while the neat CNTs did not. Human osteoblast-like MG-63 cells were cultured on the scaffolds to examine their biocompatibility and results indicated that the nanotopography of the kebab crystals on the CNTs facilitated cell adhesion and proliferation while the DEP-patterned NHSK structure further boosted cell attachment and viability, thus suggesting that the CNT/polymer nanohybrid shish kebab structure has potential applications in tissue engineering.