Production of biologically safe and mechanically improved reduced graphene oxide/hydroxyapatite composites

Abstract

As research trends included the improvement of the mechanical properties of hydroxyapatite (HA) for biological applications, HA was reinforced with different concentrations of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) in HA. In this context, graphene oxide was synthesized using the chemical exfoliation method and reduced using an environmentally safe and green method. As a green method, RGO was obtained using Melissa officinalis (melisa) extract and used as a second phase combination to the HA structure. RGO–HA composites with different concentrations of RGO in HA (0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0% wt.) were prepared using the liquid precipitation method. Then they were pelleted and sintered. Characterization studies were carried out using UV–vis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), zetasizer (ZS), x-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images. The mechanical properties of the composites were analyzed using a universal testing machine. Compared to pure HA, the compressive strength values of composites were increased significantly with the increase in RGO content. The optimum increase was observed for the RGO–HA (1%) composite, which was 3.2 times higher than the pure HA sample. Therefore, the RGO–HA (1%) composite was chosen as the best composition, and its cytotoxic and proliferative effects were examined using a minimum essential media elution test and a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. The results showed that RGO–HA (1%) composites are biocompatible and even though they are proliferative at concentrations lower than 25%.