The effect of surface nucleation modulation on the mechanical and biocompatibility of metal-polymer biomaterials

Zhenhong Ye; Le Zhang; Taiwei Liu; Weicheng Xuan; Xiaodong He; Changhao Hou; Donglin Han; Binbin Yu; Junye Shi; Jie Kang; Jiangping Chen

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2023.1160351

The effect of surface nucleation modulation on the mechanical and biocompatibility of metal-polymer biomaterials

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2023 Apr 6:11:1160351. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1160351. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Zhenhong Ye^{1

2}, Le Zhang³, Taiwei Liu⁴, Weicheng Xuan¹, Xiaodong He⁵, Changhao Hou⁶, Donglin Han¹, Binbin Yu¹, Junye Shi¹, Jie Kang⁷, Jiangping Chen^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
² Shanghai High Efficiency Cooling System Research Center, Shanghai, China.
³ State Key Laboratory for Oncogenes and Bio-ID Center, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Department of Engineering Mechanics, School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Department of Engineering Mechanics and Innovation Center for Advanced Ship and Deep-Sea Exploration, School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
⁶ Department of Urology, Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
⁷ Department of General Surgery, Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

The deployment of hernia repair patches in laparoscopic procedures is gradually increasing. In this technology, however, understanding the new phases of titanium from the parent phase on polymer substrates is essential to control the microstructural transition and material properties. It remains a challenging area of condensed matter physics to predict the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of metals on polymer substrates from the molecular scale due to the lack of understanding of the properties of the metal-polymer interface. However, this paper revealed the mechanism of nucleation on polymer substrates and proposed for the first record a time-dependent regulatory mechanism for the polymer-titanium interface. The interconnection between polymer surface chain entanglement, nucleation and growth patterns, crystal structure and surface roughness were effectively unified. The secondary regulation of mechanical properties was accomplished simultaneously to satisfy the requirement of biocompatibility. Titaniumized polypropylene patches prepared by time-dependent magnetron sputtering technology demonstrated excellent interfacial mechanical properties and biocompatibility. In addition, modulation by low-temperature plasma metal deposition opened a new pathway for biomaterials. This paper provides a solid theoretical basis for the research of titanium nanofilms on medical polypropylene substrates and the medical industry of implantable biomaterials, which will be of great value in the future.

Keywords: biomechanics; hernia; hyperviscoelasticity; nucleation analysis; valence bond analysis.

Grants and funding

This work was financially supported by grants from the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2020YFA0908100) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University Medical and Engineering Cross Research Foundation (No. YG2022QN087).