A Novel Method of Transferring Aligned Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes on a Hydrogel for Neural Regeneration Applications

摘要

In recent years, significant progress has been made in describing the interactions between carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and nerve cells which have implications in the field of neural tissue engineering for promoting nerve repair. CNTs have excellent electrical conductivity, which is especially beneficial for excitable tissues such as neural tissues, strong mechanical properties and morphological similarity to neurites. Specifically, it has been shown that patterned and aligned CNTs can promote directional neural growth. Hydrogels are ideal substrates for interfacing CNTs since they closely emulate soft tissues such as brain. Here, to align CNTs onto a polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogel, we employ a novel two-step procedure: we first align the CNTs onto a quartz wafer and then stamp the pattern on the hydrogel surface. PEGDA polymer was chosen because it is bioinert, hydrophilic, and possesses a degree of flexibility very similar to that of brain. Specifically, high quality and high density semiconducting SWCNTs were aligned on annealed quartz substrates and then successfully transferred onto a PEGDA hydrogel as confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis.