Electrical and mechanical characterisation of single wall carbon nanotubes based composites for tissue engineering applications

J Nanosci Nanotechnol. 2013 Jan;13(1):188-97. doi: 10.1166/jnn.2013.6708.

Abstract

This paper presents the realisation of conductive matrices for application to tissue engineering research. We used poly(L-lactide (PLLA)), poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL), and poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) as polymer matrix, because they are biocompatible and biodegradable. The conductive property was integrated to them by adding single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) into the polymer matrix. Several SWNTs concentrations were introduced aiming to understand how they influence and modulate mechanical properties, impedance features and electric percolation threshold of polymer matrix. It was observed that a concentration of 0.3% was able to transform insulating matrix into conductive one. Furthermore, a conductive model of the SWNT/polymer was developed by applying power law of percolation threshold.

MeSH terms

  • Biocompatible Materials / chemical synthesis*
  • Compressive Strength
  • Elastic Modulus
  • Electric Conductivity
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Hardness
  • Materials Testing
  • Nanotubes, Carbon / chemistry*
  • Nanotubes, Carbon / ultrastructure*
  • Tensile Strength
  • Tissue Engineering / instrumentation*
  • Tissue Scaffolds*

Substances

  • Biocompatible Materials
  • Nanotubes, Carbon