Injectable polymer/nanomaterial composites for the fabrication of three-dimensional biomaterial scaffolds

Current tissue engineering techniques have been intensively focused on creating injectable systems that can be used in minimally invasive surgery and controlled local drug delivery applications. The materials developed so far are based on natural and synthetic polymers and their nanocomposites, but many of them fail to simultaneously provide mechanical stability, stretchability and enhanced cell adhesiveness. In this context, to generate advanced injectable nanocomposite polymers that concurrently possess several properties, we used nanomaterials as well as nanomaterials that are chemically functionalized with bioactive molecules. Our 3D-printed polymer/nanomaterial composites (nanocomposite polymers) displayed enhanced mechanical properties, good shape fidelity, non-toxicity, stretchability, biostability and cell adhesiveness.