Titanium coated with functionalized carbon nanotubes — A promising novel material for biomedical application as an implantable orthopaedic electronic device

• Functionalized carbon nanotubes were electrophoretically deposited on Ti surface.
• Physicochemical, electrical, and biological properties were evaluated.
• Ti-CNTs-H2O is highly conductive and there are mainly COOH groups on its surface.
• Novel material is non-toxic and retards to a great extent osteoblast proliferation.
• Ti-CNTs-H2O has a promising potential as implantable orthopaedic electronic device.

The aim of the study was to fabricate titanium (Ti) material coated with functionalized carbon nanotubes (f-CNTs) that would have potential medical application in orthopaedics as an implantable electronic device. The novel biomedical material (Ti-CNTs-H2O) would possess specific set of properties, such as: electrical conductivity, non-toxicity, and ability to inhibit connective tissue cell growth and proliferation protecting the Ti-CNTs-H2O surface against covering by cells.The novel material was obtained via an electrophoretic deposition of CNTs-H2O on the Ti surface. Then, physicochemical, electrical, and biological properties were evaluated. Electrical property evaluation revealed that a Ti-CNTs-H2O material is highly conductive and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis demonstrated that there are mainly COOH groups on the Ti-CNTs-H2O surface that are found to inhibit cell growth. Biological properties were assessed using normal human foetal osteoblast cell line (hFOB 1.19). Conducted cytotoxicity tests and live/dead fluorescent staining demonstrated that Ti-CNTs-H2O does not exert toxic effect on hFOB cells. Moreover, fluorescence laser scanning microscope observation demonstrated that Ti-CNTs-H2O surface retards to a great extent cell proliferation.The study resulted in successful fabrication of highly conductive, non-toxic Ti-CNTs-H2O material that possesses ability to inhibit osteoblast proliferation and thus has a great potential as an orthopaedic implantable electronic device.

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