The use of implants carries on a series of problems, among them infections, poor biocompatibility, high levels of cytotoxicity, and significant mechanical differences between implants and host organs that promote stress shielding effects. These problems indicate that the materials used to make implants must meet essential requirements and high standards for implantations to be successful. In this work, we present the synthesis, characterization and evaluation of the antibiofilm, mechanical, and thermal properties, and cytotoxic effect of a nanocomposite-based scaffold on polyurethane (PU) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) for soft tissue applications. The effect of the quantity of AuNPs on the antibacterial activity of nanocomposite scaffolds was evaluated against Staphylococcus epidermidis and Klebsiella spp., with a resulting 99.99% inhibition of both bacteria using a small quantity of nanoparticles. Cytotoxicity was evaluated with the T10 1/2 test against fibroblast cells. The results demonstrated that porous nanogold/PU scaffolds have no toxic effects on fibroblast cells to the 5 day exposition. With respect to mechanical properties, stress-strain curves showed that the compressive modulus and yield strength of PU scaffolds were significantly enhanced by AuNPs (by at least 10 times). This is due to changes in the arrangement of hard segments of PU, which increase the stiffness of the polymer. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the degradation onset temperature rises with an increase in the quantity of AuNPs. These properties and characteristics demonstrate that porous nanogold/PU scaffolds are suitable material for use in soft tissue implants.
Nanocomposite thin films (NCTF) of low-dimensional ZnSe and copper doped ZnSe integrated poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) polymer were developed via simple solution casting method. Herein, ZnSe and Cu:ZnSe nanoparticles were synthesized through the chemical reduction technique. The obtained low-dimensional nanoparticles and NCTFs were characterized by XRD, SEM/EDS, TEM, and FTIR analysis. Room temperature dielectric and ferroelectric characteristics of PVDF/ZnSe flexible NCTF exhibited superior dielectric and ferroelectric behavior with a high coercive field of 15.6 V. Whereas, the dielectric and ferroelectric characteristics were greatly diminished in the PVDF/Cu:ZnSe flexible NCTF was due to the conducting behavior of copper ions at the interface of the polymer network. These results indicated that the PVDF/ZnSe flexible NCTF will be a potential candidate for advanced electrical applications and device fabrication.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.