Harnessing potential of microwave-assisted ultrafast synthesis of reduced graphene oxide/Mn3O4 bioactive nanocomposite hydrogel for bone tissue engineering

• Published in: European polymer journal 2024-11, Vol.220, p.113462, Article 113462
• Main Authors: Singhmar, Ritu, Sahoo, Sumanta, Choi, Soonmo, Choi, Jin Hyeok, Sood, Ankur, Han, Sung Soo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bone tissue engineering; Carbon; Hydrogels; Manganese oxide; Microwave
• ISSN: 0014-3057
• DOI: 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2024.113462

[Display omitted] •A novel approach to designing graphene nanocomposites for biomedical applications.•Rapid, cost-effective fabrication of RGO/Mn3O4 nanocomposites by Microwave.•Reinforcement of GelMA hydrogel with nanocomposite to enhance mechanical features.•Enhancement in preosteoblasts bone cell growth and proliferation up to 10 days. The development of functional materials with the potential for bone tissue regeneration along with rapid synthesis and cost-effective approach has been challenging. In this regard, hydrogels have been explored as a potent candidate to behave as a 3D scaffold for bone repair. However, poor mechanical attributes impeded their clinical translation. Enthralling demonstration of the potential of carbon-based nanocomposites in bone tissue engineering has been constantly encouraging the fabrication of advanced nanocomposites. Here, we investigated the fabrication of reduced graphene/manganese (II, III) oxide (RGO/Mn3O4) nanocomposites by taking advantage of the microwave-assisted synthesis approach for cost effective, and ultrafast synthesis. Mn3O4 nanoparticles with uniform distribution in RGO sheets and ∼ 1.7 nm size was fabricated using the approach. Further, fine-tuning of the structural interaction and mechanical behavior of the GelMA-based hydrogels upon reinforcement with RGO/Mn3O4 nanocomposites was investigated as a function of different concentrations of the nanocomposites where upto 50 % increment in the compressive stress was observed compared to native GelMA hydrogel. The ability of these hydrogels was further investigated for their osteogenic behaviour on MC3T3-E1 preosteoblast cells where constant cell proliferation for up to 10 days was witnessed for the hybrid hydrogel with the highest concentration of the nanofillers.