Abstract

The aim of this study was to prepare nanocomposites of carboxylated graphene oxide (GO-COOH) sheets decorated with zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) and investigate their advantages in the field of bone tissue engineering. First, ZnO/GO-COOH nanocomposites were synthesized by facile reactions, including the carboxylation of graphene oxide (GO) and the nucleation of ZnO on GO-COOH sheets. The synthesized ZnO/GO-COOH nanocomposites were then characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectra, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The biocompatibility, osteogenic activity and antibacterial effect of ZnO/GO-COOH nanocomposites were further investigated. In the nanocomposites, ZnO nanoparticles with a size of approximately 12   nm were uniformly decorated on GO-COOH sheets. Compared with GO-COOH and the control group, ZnO/GO-COOH nanocomposites significantly enhanced ALP activity, osteocalcin production and extracellular matrix mineralization as well as up-regulated osteogenic-related genes (ALP, OCN, and Runx2) in MG63 osteoblast-like cells. Moreover, ZnO/GO-COOH nanocomposites had an antibacterial effect against Streptococcus mutans . These results indicated that ZnO/GO-COOH nanocomposites exhibited both osteogenic activity and antibacterial effect and had great potential for designing new biomaterials in the field of bone tissue engineering.