A Universal Chelation-Induced Selective Demetallization Strategy for Bioceramic Nanosheets (BCene)

The emergence of nanosheet materials like graphene andphosphorene,which are created by breaking the interlayer van der Waals force,has revolutionized multiple fields. Layered inorganic materials areubiquitous in materials like bioceramics, semiconductors, superconductors,etc. However, the strong interlayer covalent or ionic bonding in thesecrystals makes it difficult to fabricate nanosheets from them. Inthis study, we present a simple technique to produce nanosheets fromlayered crystals by selectively exfoliating their interlayer metalatoms using the metal-chelation reaction. As a proof of concept, wesuccessfully produced bioceramic nanosheets (BCene) by extracting Ca layers from Akermanite (AKT). The 3D-printed BCene scaffolds exhibitedsuperior mechanical strength and in vitro bioactivitycompared to the scaffolds made from AKT nanopowders. Our findingsdemonstrate the outstanding potential of BCene nanosheets in tissueengineering. Additionally, the selective demetallization techniquefor nanosheet production could be applied to other inorganic layeredcrystals to optimize their performance.

Automated summary

We present a simple technique to produce nanosheets from layered crystals by selectively exfoliating their interlayer metal atoms using the metal-chelation reaction. As a proof of concept, we successfully produced bioceramic nanosheets (BCene) by extracting Ca layers from Akermanite (AKT). The 3D-printed BCene scaffolds exhibited superior mechanical strength and in vitro bioactivity compared to the scaffolds made from AKT nanopowders. Our findings demonstrate the outstanding potential of BCene nanosheets in tissue engineering, and the selective demetallization technique for nanosheet production could be applied to other inorganic layered crystals to optimize their performance.