Graphene oxide nanosheets versus carbon nanofibers: Enhancement of physical and biological properties of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) films for biomedical applications.

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) is a microbial biodegradable polymer with a wide range of potential industrial applications. However, its biomedical uses could increase exponentially if certain physical and biological properties were enhanced without compromising on the non-cytotoxic property of this biocompatible polymer. Graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) have proven to be very promising reinforcing agents for the development of new composite materials. Therefore, PHBV films were prepared with 1% w/w of GO nanosheets or CNFs with the aim of enhancing their compression performance, thermal behaviour, wettability and cell adhesion using canine adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells, and antibacterial activity against the model bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. The results of this study showed that both nanomaterials produced similar enhancements of the physical properties. However, PHBV/GO exhibited higher proliferative activity against time, cell adhesion and antibacterial activity than that of PHBV/CNFs. Nonetheless, both PHBV/GO and PHBV/CNFs composite films have shown considerable promise for biomedical applications.