There are relatively few nanotechnologies that can produce nanocomposite scaffolds for cell growth. Electrospinning has emerged as the foremost method of producing nanofibrous biomimetic scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. In this study diamond nanoparticles were integrated into a polymer solution to develop a nanocomposite scaffold containing poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) loaded with diamond nanoparticles. To investigate the effect of adding diamond nanoparticles to PLGA scaffolds, primary human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) were seeded on the scaffolds. The cytocompatibility results showed that addition of diamond nanoparticles did not impinge upon cell proliferation, nor was there a cytotoxic cellular response after 9 days in culture. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and confocal microscopy enabled qualitative characterization of the fibres and revealed cell morphology and number. Furthermore, surface roughness was measured to evaluate diamond nanoparticle modifications, and no significant difference was found between the diamond nanocomposite and pure polymer scaffolds. On the other hand, bright spots on phase images performed by atomic force microscopy suggested a higher hardness at certain points on fibers of the PLGA-nanodiamond composites, which was supported by nanoindentation measurements. This study shows that PLGA nanofibers can be reinforced with nanodiamond without adversely affecting cell behaviour, and thus it sets the foundation for future application of these scaffolds in bone tissue engineering.

The diffraction data of η'-Cu(3+x)(Si,Ge) were collected by 3D quantitative electron diffraction tomography on a submicrometer-sized sample, and the structure was solved by the charge-flipping algorithm in superspace. It is shown that the structure is trigonal, and it is incommensurately modulated with two modulation vectors q(1) = (α, α, 1/3) and q(2) = (-2α, α, 1/3), superspace group P31m(α, α, 1/3)000(-2α, α, 1/3)000. The modulation functions of some atoms are very complicated and reach amplitudes comparable with the unit cell dimensions. The modulated structure can be described as sheets of Cu clusters separated by honeycomb layers of mixed Si/Ge positions. The shape of the Cu clusters in the sheets strongly varies with the modulation phase, and the predominant form is an icosahedron. The striving of the Cu layers to form icosahedral clusters is deemed to be the main driving force of the modulation. The combination of methods used in this work can be applied to other structures that are difficult to crystallize in large crystals and opens new perspectives, especially for investigations of aperiodic or otherwise complex metallic alloys.

In this contribution, various Ti thin substrates were explored and compared for the anodic growth of self-organized TiO 2 nanotube layers for the first time. In order to evaluate differences in the electrochemical anodization characteristics and the tube dimensions, five different Ti substrates from four established suppliers were anodized in the widely used ethylene glycol electrolytes containing 88 mM NH 4 F and 1,5 vol.% water. Two anodizations were carried out to elucidate an influence of the pre-anodized substrates used for the second anodization. By thorough evaluation of the nanotube dimensions, large variations between the dimensions of the nanotubes were found for the different substrates, ranging from ~32 µm to ~50 µm for the nanotube length and from ~109 nm to ~127 nm for the nanotube diameter after the second anodization. Upon AFM measurements, Goodfellow Ti substrates (99.99 % purity), yielded the smoothest surface and the highest degree of ordering from all substrates.Moreover, considerably different consumption of Ti substrates via anodization was revealed by profilometric measurements between the original non-anodized part of the Ti substrates, and the anodized part after the removal of the nanotube layer. Orientation imaging 2 microscopy revealed considerable differences in the size and orientation of the substrate grains.

Various types of nanofibers are increasingly used in tissue engineering, mainly for their ability to mimic the architecture of tissue at the nanoscale. We evaluated the adhesion, growth, viability, and differentiation of human osteoblast-like MG 63 cells on polylactide (PLA) nanofibers prepared by needle-less electrospinning and loaded with 5 or 15 wt % of hydroxyapatite (HA) nanoparticles. On day 7 after seeding, the cell number was the highest on samples with 15 wt % of HA. This result was confirmed by the XTT test, especially after dynamic cultivation, when the number of metabolically active cells on these samples was even higher than on control polystyrene. Staining with a live/dead kit showed that the viability of cells on all nanofibrous scaffolds was very high and comparable to that on control polystyrene dishes. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay revealed that the concentration of osteocalcin was also higher in cells on samples with 15 wt % of HA. There was no immune activation of cells (measured by production of TNF-alpha), associated with the incorporation of HA. Moreover, the addition of HA suppressed the creep behavior of the scaffolds in their dry state. Thus, nanofibrous PLA scaffolds have potential for bone tissue engineering, particularly those with 15 wt % of HA.

The development of intrinsic vacancies in SnSe single crystals was investigated as a function of annealing temperature by means of positron annihilation spectroscopy accompanied by transport measurements. It has been demonstrated that two types of vacancies are present in single-crystalline SnSe. While Sn vacancies dominate in the low-temperature region, Se vacancies and vacancy clusters govern the high-temperature region. These findings are supported by theoretical calculations enabling direct detection and quantification of the most favorable type of vacancies. The experiments show that Sn vacancies couple with one or more Se vacancies with increasing temperature to form vacancy clusters. Interestingly, the clusters survive the α→β transition at ≈800 K and even grow in size with temperature. The concentration of both Se vacancies and vacancy clusters increases with temperature, similar to thermoelectric performance. This indicates that the extraordinary thermoelectric properties of SnSe are related to point defects. We suggest that either these defects vary the band structure in favor of high thermoelectric performance or introduce an energy-dependent scattering of free carriers realizing, in fact, energy filtering of the free carriers. Cluster defects account for the glasslike thermal conductivity of SnSe at elevated temperatures.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.

The relationship between the microstructure of Ti substrates and the anodic growth of selforganized TiO2 nanotube layers obtained upon their anodization in the ethylene glycol based electrolytes on these substrates is reported for the first time. Polished Ti sheets with mirror-like surface as well as unpolished Ti foils were considered in this work. Grains with a wide range of crystallographic orientations and sizes were revealed by Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) and correlated with nanotube growth on both types of substrates. A preferred grain orientation with (0001) axis perpendicular to the surface was observed on all substrates. Surfaces of all substrates were anodized for 18 hours in ethylene glycol electrolytes containing 88 mM NH4F and 1.5% water and thoroughly inspected by SEM. By a precise comparison of Ti substrates before and after anodization, the uniformity of produced self-organized TiO2 nanotube layers was evaluated in regard to the specific orientation of individual grains. Grains with (0001) axis perpendicular to the surface turned out to be the most growth-promoting orientation on polished substrates. No orientation was found to be strictly growth-retarding, but sufficient This postprint version is available from http://hdl.handle.net/10195/61977 Publisher's version is available from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169433216304482 DOI: 10.1016DOI: 10. /j.apsusc.2016 This document is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0.International. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2 anodization time (24 hours) was needed to obtain uniform nanotube layers on all grains without remnant porous initial oxide. In contrast with polished Ti sheets, no specific orientation was found to significantly promote or retard the nanotube growth in the case of unpolished Ti foils.Finally, the difference between the average nanotube diameters of nanotubes grown on various grains was investigated showing non-negligible differences in the diameter for different grain orientations and substrates.

Background: Nanofibrous scaffolds loaded with bioactive nanoparticles are promising materials for bone tissue engineering. Methods: In this study, composite nanofibrous membranes containing a copolymer of L-lactide and glycolide (PLGA) and diamond nanoparticles were fabricated by an electrospinning technique. PLGA was dissolved in a mixture of methylene chloride and dimethyl formamide (2:3) at a concentration of 2.3 wt%, and nanodiamond (ND) powder was added at a concentration of 0.7 wt% (about 23 wt% in dry PLGA). Results: In the composite scaffolds, the ND particles were either arranged like beads in the central part of the fibers or formed clusters protruding from the fibers. In the PLGA-ND membranes, the fibers were thicker (diameter 270 ± 9 nm) than in pure PLGA meshes (diameter 218 ± 4 nm), but the areas of pores among these fibers were smaller than in pure PLGA samples (0.46 ± 0.02 µm 2 versus 1.28 ± 0.09 µm 2 in pure PLGA samples). The PLGA-ND membranes showed higher mechanical resistance, as demonstrated by rupture tests of load and deflection of rupture probe at failure. Both types of membranes enabled the attachment, spreading, and subsequent proliferation of human osteoblast-like MG-63 cells to a similar extent, although these values were usually lower than on polystyrene dishes. Nevertheless, the cells on both types of membranes were polygonal or spindle-like in shape, and were distributed homogeneously on the samples. From days 1-7 after seeding, their number rose continuously, and at the end of the experiment, these cells were able to create a confluent layer. At the same time, the cell viability, evaluated by a LIVE/DEAD viability/cytotoxicity kit, ranged from 92% to 97% on both types of membranes. In addition, on PLGA-ND membranes, the cells formed well developed talin-containing focal adhesion plaques. As estimated by the determination of tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels in the culture medium and concentration of intercellular adhesion molecule-1, MG-63 cells, and RAW 264.7 macrophages on these membranes did not show considerable inflammatory activity. Conclusion:This study shows that nanofibrous PLGA membranes loaded with diamond nanoparticles have interesting potential for use in bone tissue engineering.