Bacterial infections are one of the major causes of surgical implant inefficiency and failure. In fact, such infections can lead to post-surgical complications, requiring antibiotic treatment and, in some cases, full surgical removal, increasing cost, recovery time, and risks to the patient’s health. Up to date, various antibacterial wet coatings have been developed as an attempt to suppress bacterial growth, however, the implementation of these coatings on implant surfaces has been limited, owing to their poor mechanical integrity, along with their intrinsic low chemical and thermal stability. The precise patterning ability of three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies can be employed to accurately coat implants, avoid potential post-surgical complications arising from infections, and maintain high thermomechanical stability. Graphene Oxide (GO) has been reported as a biocompatible material with high toxicity to microorganisms and low mammalian cytotoxicity. Herein, we present a Nanocomposite (NC) produced by the addition of Poly(N-vinylcarbazole) – GO dispersion (PVK-GO), as a nanofiller to a commercial photopolymer acrylate resin (Elegoo translucent resin). More specifically, a series of NCs with different PVK-GO compositions were obtained by varying the ratios of GO from 0 to 0.5 wt% in the PVK-GO dispersion. The resulting NCs were printed as coatings via Digital Light Processing (DLP) technique and subsequently subjected to two distinct thermal annealing processes. Several characterizations of the final NC-based coatings, including Raman Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Tensile Strength, Thermogravimetric Analysis, and Scanning Electron Microscopy revealed the effects arising from the addition of different compositions of PVK-GO nanofillers to the resin. Moreover, results from bioassays against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, confirmed the efficient antibacterial activity of the printed NC-based coatings. To that end, the present study demonstrates the fabrication and optimization of a PVK-GO-based NC with enhanced thermomechanical properties as well as elevated antibacterial activity and its potential utilization as a 3D-printable coating for biomedical applications.

Digital light processing (DLP) printing of polymer-based graphene oxide nanocomposite as an efficient antibacterial coating for surgical implants

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