Optimizing Graphene Oxide Encapsulated TiO₂ and Hydroxyapatite; Structure and Biological Response

Nanocomposites based on hydroxyapatite (HAP) are fabricated with/without combining titanium oxide (TiO₂) and graphene oxide. Structure investigation was done for all compositions using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared in addition to X-ray photoelectron to study the chemical compositions of the obtained nanocomposites. The surface morphology investigation was done with the scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope. In this regard, TiO₂ nanoparticles were exhibited in spherical shapes, while HAP was detected as nanorods. The dimensions of HAP have been decreased from 53 and 18 to 27 and 10 nm for length and diameter, respectively. The crystallite sizes obtained from XRD data are around 15 and 33 nm for HAP and TiO₂ respectively. Moreover, the diameter of TiO₂ reached 80 nm. Further, the average roughness parameter (R_a) improved from 9.2 to 11.1 nm from HAP to TNC. Besides, the root mean square (R_q), maximum height of the roughness (R_t), and maximum roughness valley depth (R_v) increased to 14.7, 104, and 55.9 nm, respectively. Furthermore, cell viability enhanced from 96.3 ± 3 to 102.4 ± 3%. Besides, the antibacterial behavior improved to be 15.3 ± 1.3 and 14.2 ± 0.9 mm for TNC against E. coli and S. aureus respectively.