Nanozirconia partially coated MWNT: Nanostructural characerization and cytotoxicity and lixivation study

Carbon nanotubes could avoid the crack propagation and enhance the toughness of the ceramic material used for prostheses applications. So nanozirconia partially coated carbon nanotubes have been obtained via hydrothermal synthesis of zirconia nanoparticles in presence of multiwall carbon nanotubes. The as covered nanotubes should have a better wettability in the ceramic matrix and improve the dispersion of the CNTs in the nanocomposite, which results in a new ceramic biomaterial with a longer lifetime and better reliability. The obtained product has been structurally characterized by several techniques such as FTIR, XRD, SEM, AFM, EELS, XPS and TGA. The citotoxicity of the sintered product was studied by the change in the pH and ICP-AES in in-vitro biocompatibility tests.