Antibacterial activities of zeolite/silver-graphene oxide nanocomposite in bone implants

ABSTRACT

The capability to hinder microbial growth on the implant surfaces is of great interest in medical applications. This paper presents our study on the synthesis of zeolite/silver-graphene oxide (Zeo/Ag-GO) nanocomposite to enhance antibacterial activities of bone implants. Zeo/Ag-GO was synthesized using via semi-powder metallurgy and then characterized in terms of microstructure, antibacterial activities, and biocompatibility. Our microstructure results demonstrated that the Ag particles were anchored and uniformly distributed in the composite structure; assessment of antibacterial activity against the Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) revealed that Zeo/Ag-GO was better than Zeo/Ag, but Zeo has no antimicrobial activity observed; and biocompatibility assays showed that both Zeo/Ag and Zeo/Ag-GO had no negative effect on the proliferation of MG-63, while Zeo/Ag-GO promoted better cell viability. Taken together, Zeo/Ag-GO has great antimicrobial performance with suitable cytocompatibility, thus potentially being used to reduce implant-associated infections.

KEYWORDS:

• Zeolite
• graphene oxide
• antibacterial activity
• biocompatibility

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). In addition, the author gratefully would like to thank Smart Polymeric Structure Co. (SPS), Iran and University of Saskatchewan, Canada for collaboration with this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ali Sadeghianmaryan

Ali Sadeghianmaryan is a researcher at IAU (Azad University, Iran) and the University of Saskatchewan, Canada with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry and strong education professional. My professional Skills: Antibacterial, Nanotechnology, Nanofabrication, Tissue Engineering, Scaffolding and Wound Dressing Fabrications.