A strawberry-like Ag-decorated barium titanate enhances piezoelectric and antibacterial activities of polymer scaffold

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)/barium titanate (BaTiO 3 ) composites are becoming increasingly attractive in bone repair since it combines the advantage of polymer flexibility and ceramic piezoelectric constant. Herein, silver (Ag) nanoparticles were decorated on polydopamine functioned BaTiO 3 (Ag-pBT) by in situ growth. Then the strawberry-like structured Ag-pBT nanoparticles were introduced into PVDF scaffold fabricated by selective laser sintering . On one hand, Ag nanoparticles would act as a conductive phase to enhance the strength of the polarized electric field on BaTiO 3 , thereby forcing more domains to be aligned in the direction of the electric field and make piezoelectric effect of BaTiO 3 fully play in composite scaffold . On the other hand, Ag nanoparticles would attack multiple targets in bacteria by release of Ag + and production of reactive oxygen species. In fact, the antibacterial activity is highly desirable for bone repair. Results demonstrated that the PVDF/4Ag-pBT scaffold exhibited enhanced piezoelectric properties with output current and voltage increased by 50% and 40% than that of PVDF/pBT, respectively. In vitro cell culture confirmed that the enhanced electric output further promoted cell proliferation and differentiation. Meanwhile, the scaffold presented robust antibacterial activity against E.coli.