Design and synthesis of biomimetic multicomponent all-bone-minerals bionanocomposites

We report a simple and novel top-down method based on a drop-casting process for the controlled synthesis of all-bone-minerals biomimetic multicomponent bionanocomposites. Integration of micro- and nanoscale binary features into nanofibrous biocompatible polymer scaffold structures is successfully demonstrated. Compositional control of the constituents of the bionanocomposites resulted in uniform dispersion of hydroxyapatite nanospheres (~100-500 nm) among collagen nanofibers (~100 nm). The composites also present high calcium and oxygen contents and adequate phosphorus compositions comparable to the levels of bone tissues. Our preliminary results open up further possibilities to develop advanced tissue-engineered bionanocomposites for bone grafting.