The promising application of graphene oxide as coating materials in orthopedic implants: preparation, characterization and cell behavior.

To investigate the potential application of graphene oxide (GO) in bone repair, this study is focused on the preparation, characterization and cell behavior of graphene oxide coatings on quartz substrata. GO coatings were prepared on the substrata using a modified dip-coating procedure. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy results demonstrated that the as-prepared coatings in this study were homogeneous and had an average thickness of ~67 nm. The rapid formation of a hydroxyapatite (HA) layer in the simulated body fluid (SBF) on GO coated substrata at day 14, as proved by SEM and x-ray diffraction (XRD), strongly indicated the bioactivity of coated substrata. In addition, MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured on the coated substrata to evaluate cellular activities. Compared with the non-coated substrata and tissue culture plates, no significant difference was observed on the coated substrata in terms of cytotoxicity, viability, proliferation and apoptosis. However, interestingly, higher levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and osteocalcin (OC) secretion were observed on the coated substrata, indicating that GO coatings enhanced cell differentiation compared with non-coated substrata and tissue culture plates. This study suggests that GO coatings had excellent biocompatibility and more importantly promoted MC3T3-E1 cell differentiation and might be a good candidate as a coating material for orthopedic implants.