Electro-conductive silica nanoparticles-incorporated hydrogel based on alginate as a biomimetic scaffold for bone tissue engineering application

Abstract

An innovative electrically conductive hydrogel was fabricated through the incorporation of silica nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs) and poly(aniline-co-dopamine) (PANI-co-PDA) into oxidized alginate (OAlg) as a biomimetic scaffold for bone tissue engineering application. The developed self-healing chemical hydrogel was characterized by FTIR, SEM, TEM, XRD, and TGA. The electrical conductivity and swelling ratio of the hydrogel were obtained as 1.7 × 10−3 S cm−1 and 130%, respectively. Cytocompatibility and cell proliferation potential of the developed scaffold were approved by MTT assay using MG-63 cells. FE-SEM imaging approved the potential of the fabricated scaffold for hydroxyapatite (HA) formation and bioactivity induction through immersing in SBF solution.