Mechanical performance of graphene added hydroxyapatite nanocomposite and in-vivo imaging for emerging biomedical applications

The graphene added hydroxyapatite nano-composites have been prepared by microwave irradiation technique. The XRD patterns revealed that the prepared nano-composite shows a high order crystalline structure. The decomposed hydroxyapatite was converted into the secondary phase of β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP). The graphene added hydroxyapatite improves the mechanical and biological properties of the HAp-GNPs nano-composite significantly. The 0.5 wt % graphene added hydroxyapatite enhances the strength of HAp nano-composite in order to achieve the highest value as 96.94 MPa than the pure HAp 87.01 MPa. The 0.5 wt % graphene added HAp nano-composite shows maximum load bearing potential, Young's modulus and highest fracture toughness (116.32 KJ/m³) characteristics. The porous microstructures were observed by varying amount of graphene contents in the HAp compared to the pure HAp. The maximum porosity was measured as 9.79% on addition of highest amount of GNPs-HAp composite. The 0.5 wt% added GNPs-HAp nano-composite shows enhanced in vivo cell viability and hie-imaging in the gut tissues of Drosophila third instar larvae. Thus, the graphene added hydroxyapatite nanocomposite could be a suitable candidate for biomedical fields. (author)