Self-assembled peptide nanofibers on graphene oxide as a novel nanohybrid for biomimetic mineralization of hydroxyapatite

In this study, self-assembled peptide nanofibers (PNFs) were firstly created with a specially designed peptide molecule. Graphene oxide (GO) nanosheet, as a two-dimensional scaffold, was then modified with the prepared PNFs to fabricate a new type of GO–PNF nanohybrid, which was further utilized as a template for biomimetic mineralization. The produced GO–PNF nanohybrid and its minerals were characterized by atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. The obtained results indicate that the created GO–PNF nanohybrid facilitates the nucleation and growth of hydroxyapatite (HA) crystals. The created PNFs promote the formation of HA nanocrystals along the axis of PNFs within short-term incubation and the GO nanosheet mediates the formation of HA microsphere after long-term mineralization. The effects of the produced GO–PNF nanohybrid and biomimetic minerals (GO–PNF–HA) on the adhesion and proliferation of L-929 cells and MC3T3-E1 cells were further investigated. The cell culture result indicates that the produced GO–PNF–HA minerals have good biocompatibility and can enhance the proliferation ability of the studied cells. We believe this novel biocompatible nanohybrid will show great potentials in tissue engineering.