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controlled. The resulting coating varied

from a few atomic layers thick, to complex,
interconnected nanopillars of carbon
which increased the specific surface area
of the material by up to 26,000 times.
The inhomogeneity of stainless steels
microstructure was found to produce a
graphene coating that was not highly-

Materials Today  Volume 18, Number 6  July/August 2015

crystalline. In addition, the wettability of

the material was also studied, and it was
found that when the density of carbon nanopillars was highest, the coated steel was
super-hydrophobic. The material also displayed its highest corrosion resistance to
synthetic seawater at this point, suggesting
that it was the presence of graphene that

increased its corrosion resistance, without

compromising the properties or structure
of the native stainless steel material.
The team expect potential applications of
their coated-steel to include thermal
exchangers, molecular separation systems
and bio-compatible materials.
Laurie Winkless

Magnesium boosts artificial bone performance

Magnesium plays an important role in the
body, maintaining bone health and mediating cell function, so it should come as no
surprise that this biocompatible, biodegradable, low-cost, and environmentally friendly material also boosts the performance of
artificial bone composites. Until now there
has been little examination of the effects of
Mg on tissue engineered replacement bone
scaffolds. But Thomas J. Webster and his
team at Northeastern University have
found that simply adding MgO nanoparticles to polymer composite scaffolds helps
bone-forming cells stick [Hickey, et al., Acta
Biomater. (2014), doi:10.1016/j.actbio.
2014.12.004].
Biomaterial scaffolds that support the regeneration of damaged bone tissue using
the patients own cells and then degrade to
leave just the new tissue are increasingly in
demand as existing implant materials are
invasive to install and can lead to long-term
health problems.
Instead of the current practice of
implanting permanent materials to replace
[orthopedic] tissues, we believe that biodegradable scaffolds can be loaded with the
patients own cells and implanted into
the affected region, explains lead author
Daniel J. Hickey. The scaffold degrades at

Scanning electron micrograph of the surface of a

10% HA/10% MgO PLLA composite after
incubation in cell growth media at 378C for
7 days.

the same rate that the loaded cells and

surrounding tissues fill the void by generating their own tissue matrix.
The new scaffold comprises 20 nm MgO
nanoparticles mixed with the biodegradable polymer poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA)
and hydroxyapatite (HA) nanoparticles.
Adding MgO increases the stiffness and
elasticity of HA-PLLA composites to match
more closely the properties of native cancellous bone the spongy tissue found in
the core of vertebrae and at the end of long
bones like the thigh (or femur). While varying the size, shape, and concentration of
the nanoparticles allows the mechanical

properties of the scaffold to be finely tuned.

But most significantly of all, the nanoparticles improve the adhesion and proliferation of bone-forming cells (or osteoblasts).
In fact, osteoblasts adhered twice as well to
scaffolds containing MgO as to plain PLLA
samples.
At this point, we do not know the exact
mechanisms that make this happen but we
expect the MgO nanoparticles degrade to
release Mg2+ ions, which are known to play
a key role in the action of several cellular
proteins and processes, says Hickey.
The degradation of the MgO nanoparticles appears to release products that
improve the adhesion of osteoblasts,
while the PLLA preserves the scaffolds
mechanical properties. The nanoparticles
also appear to have an antibacterial affect
and enhance the function of fibroblasts,
the cells found in skin, tendons, and
ligaments.
This approach is extremely practical because the materials are cheap and effective, Hickey says. We do not see any
direct disadvantages. . .but there is still a
considerable amount of work to do before
these composites will be ready for clinical
application.
Cordelia Sealy

Nanoparticles spice up Alzheimers diagnosis

Dementia has a devastating effect on the
40 million sufferers worldwide and costs
billions in healthcare. Alzheimers disease
makes up 60-80% of cases and, with no
known cure or prevention, early diagnosis
could be vital for new treatments seeking
to halt or slow the disease before irrevocable brain damage occurs.
Magnetic nanoparticles combined with a
derivative of the spice turmeric could help

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make earlier diagnoses of Alzheimers easier, according to researchers at the Chinese

University of Hong Kong [K.K. Cheng, et al.
Biomaterials 44 (2015) 155].
Diagnosis relies on the detection of amyloid b (Ab) plaques build-ups of Ab
proteins secreted from brain cells, which
are normally cleared from the brain but in
the disease aggregate into deposits. Ab
aggregates may contribute to neuronal

damage and the debilitating symptoms

of Alzheimers. Early on in the disease,
plaques may be present long before the
patient experiences symptoms. Current
detection techniques rely on positron
emission tomography (PET), which is expensive and exposes patients to radiation.
Alternatively, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is cheaper, widely available in
hospitals, and does not involve radiation

Materials Today  Volume 18, Number 6  July/August 2015

exposure. As MRI also offers better spatial

resolution, it is more suitable for early
intervention or mass screening. But the
technique cannot detect plaques directly;
a contrast agent is needed to bind onto
amyloid plaques to make them visible in
MRI. Magnetic nanoparticles are a common
contrast agent, but Kwok Kin Cheng, Albert
Chow, and Larry Baum have designed clever super-paramagnetic iron oxide (SPIO)
nanoparticles treated with curcumin derived from turmeric that bind onto amyloid plaques. Not only does curcumin bind
naturally to both SPIO and amyloid plaques
without the need for additional chemical

linkers, it appears to have no toxic side

effects.
To help the curcumin magnetic nanoparticles (Cur-MNPs) sneak into the brain without detection by the immune system,
Baums team coated the particles with the
polymers polyethylene glycol-polylactic
acid (PEG-PLA) and polyvinylpyrrolidone
(PVP). The polymer coating prevents the
nanoparticles from aggregating, prolongs
the time they can circulate in the blood,
and appears to facilitate crossing of the
bloodbrain barrier (BBB).
The researchers tested their novel CurMNPs in mice, demonstrating that the

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particles bind to plaques in the brain, which

appear as dark spots in MRI.
We showed that the particles can distinguish transgenic mice with amyloid plaques
from control mice without plaques, suggesting that the particles would be able to
detect plaques in humans, Baum told
Materials Today.
He would now like to see the Cur-MNPs
tested in humans to confirm their safety
and compare their ability to detect amyloid
plaques with PET imaging agents.
Our approach opens up new ground for
research and applications, he says.
Cordelia Sealy

Model reveals secret of natural materials success

Natural materials like nacre shell, collagen, and spider silk possess an exceptional
combination of strength and toughness
thanks to a bricks-and-mortar-like structure. During synthesis, whether by a
mollusk or on a production line, defects
occur by chance and accumulate in
the material as it grows, which adversely
affect its final mechanical properties.
Natural materials show a remarkable ability to withstand these defects or socalled size effects and preserve their
characteristics from the micro- to the
macroscale.
Now researchers at Northwestern University have come up with a mathematical
model that describes and can predict
the outstanding mechanical behavior of
natural composites [Wei, et al., Acta Biomater. (2015), doi:10.1016/j.actbio.2015.
01.040]. The staggered arrangement of
strong, stiff filaments embedded in a softer
matrix seen in natural materials seems,
over multiple hierarchical levels, to cancel
out the size effect and render their
strength insensitive to scale. The new statistical shear lag model reveals that there
is a critical length scale at which the dominant failure mechanism switches from
filament fracture to sliding at the interface
between the two composite constituents,
says Horacio D. Espinosa who led the
work.
Interestingly, the critical length scale
found by the researchers using the new
model coincides with a fundamental length
observed in the statistical models of fiber-

(Top) The hierarchical structures of tendon, a biological material known for its high strength and
toughness. (Bottom) Transition of the statistics of strength during material scaling up at each level in a
composite with nested hierarchical structures.

reinforced composites many years ago,

explains Xiaoding Wei.
[This] critical length was empirical and
the understanding of its origin incomplete, says Espinosa. [Our model] demonstrates, for the first time, how staggered
composites can achieve size-independent
material strength.
Another unique finding emerging from
the work is that the statistics describing the
strength of hierarchical composites change

from a type of distribution know as a Weibull distribution to Gaussian and back to

Weibull at each level during material scale
up. The new model provides a much deeper
understanding of the structure-property
relationships in natural biomaterials and
the hierarchical composites inspired by
them. Using the model to introduce defects
in a controlled manner enables defect tolerance to be designed into a material and
size effects to be suppressed.

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