Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were covalently grafted on the titanium surface with the aim to provide a new platform for human osteoblast cells (HOCs) attachment. Water contact angle, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) results revealed that the PEG-functionalized SWCNTs were successfully grafted onto titanium surfaces. Cell viability and proliferation showed that the number of viable cells in culture medium increased with the incubation time for both titanium and SWCNT-modified titanium samples, although the SWCNT-modified titanium presented lower cell viability compared to titanium. Cell adhesion experiments suggested that there were no obvious differences in the number of cells adhered on the titanium and PEG-SWCNT-modified titanium, and the number of adhered cells increased with the culture time. To our best knowledge, for the first time the PEG functionalized SWCNTs were grafted on the titanium surface for human osteoblast cell adhesion and growth. The strategy introduced in the present study provides a new idea for the matrix preparation based on CNTs and titanium for the biological application and the new SWCNT-titanium platform has potential applications in implantable materials and bone tissue engineering.
KeywordsCarbon NanotubeTitaniumOsteoblast
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