Abstract
Challenges facing graphene-reinforced composites include insufficient interfacial strengths, filler agglomeration, and their potential cytotoxicity. To tackle these challenges, silica-coated graphene (S-G) is used to toughen a representative bioceramic, hydroxyapatite (HA), and HA-based composites were prepared by park plasma sintering. By adding 2 wt.% silica-coated graphene oxide, a precursor to S-G, the fracture toughness of HA could be increased by 84%. Compared with graphene/HA pellets, the S-G/HA samples showed superior mechanical properties. In addition, the incorporation of S-G could promote the proliferation and differentiation of human osteoblast-like cells MG63, and showed no adverse effect on their viability. Therefore, the multifunctional bioceramic-based materials presented here possess great potential in load-bearing orthopedic implants.
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