Inhibition of calcification of polymer-ceramic composites incorporating nanocrystalline TiO2

An emerging problem related to the development of polymer surfaces resistant to calcification was addressed in this work. Multiblock copolymers containing poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) (30 wt-%) as hard segment and dilinoleic acid (DLA) as soft segment were prepared in the presence of two concentrations of TiO2 particles (23 nm diameter) as nanofiller (0.2 and 0.4 wt-%) via in situ polycondensation process. Changes of thermal properties as well as investigations of topography of these nanocomposites suggest that addition of small amount of TiO2 nanoparticles resulted in higher crystallinity and roughness of the copolymer surface. Incubation in simulated body fluid (SBF) increased the roughness of all copolymers characterised by root mean square (rms) values; however, no hydroxyapatite layer was formed on the samples surface. The highest difference of rms values was found for the neat PET/DLA material. The addition of nanocrystalline TiO2 seems to prevent the material surface from calcification which represents a positive effect when such nanocomposite is intended for medical applications, especially for uses in contact with soft tissue.