Fabrication of well-controlled porous foams of graphene oxide modified poly(propylene-carbonate) using supercritical carbon dioxide and its potential tissue engineering applications

Poly(propylene carbonate) is a new amorphous, biodegradable and biocompatible aliphatic polyester. It has a potentially wide range of applications, such as packing materials and biomedical materials. However, the low glass transition temperatures (Tg) and poor mechanical property have limited its applications. In this paper, poly(propylene-carbonate)/graphene oxide nanocomposites with a 10 °C increase in Tg and a 50 times increase in storage modulus at 30 °C were firstly fabricated, then the nanocomposites were foamed using supercritical CO2 to widen their applications, particularly in the area of tissue engineering. It was demonstrated that the nanocomposite foams had good dimension stability and the final pore features were depended on supercritical CO2 saturation conditions. In addition, cytotoxicity and in vitro cell culturing tests of selected foams showed that the fabricated porous materials were non-cytotoxic and able to support cellular adhesion within the 3D structure, suggesting that these are promising materials for tissue engineering applications.