Multiwalled carbon nanotube coating on titanium.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have excellent chemical durability, mechanical strength and electrical properties. Therefore, there is interest in CNTs for not only electrical and mechanical applications, but also biological and medical applications. We coated titanium, a common material for dental implants, with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). First, titanium was aminated and covered with collagen. Then, the carboxylated MWCNTs were coated onto the collagen attached to the titanium plate. The collagen-coated titanium plate had a homogeneous MWCNT coating, which showed strong attachment to the titanium surface as a thin layer. The surface roughness was significantly increased with the MWCNT coating. MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured on the MWCNT-coated Ti plate, and showed good cell proliferation and strong cell adhesion. Therefore, the MWCNT coating for titanium could be useful for improvement of cell adhesion on titanium implants.