Nanoscale surface of carbon nanotube fibers for medical applications: Structure and chemistry revealed by TOF-SIMS analysis

Surface structure and related chemistry understanding is a vital element in the design of high biocompatible materials since adsorption and adhesion of biological components are involved. These features are even more important in the case of nanostructured materials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) fibers. In our preliminary work we synthesised CNTs based fibers for medical applications. This new hybrid system combines polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with CNTs and polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), a biodegradable copolymer. The surface properties of this material are investigated in order to guarantee a biocompatible response. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) was found to be an ideal tool for fiber characterisation owing to its capacity to provide chemical specificity combined with detection limits beyond the reach of techniques previously used. Complementary morphological information is provided by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The corroboration of both data enables us to define the chemistry and structure of this new formulation.