Enhancement of interaction of L-929 cells with functionalized graphene via COOH(+) ion implantation vs. chemical method

Low hydrophilicity of graphene is one of the major obstacles for biomaterials application. To create some hydrophilic groups on graphene is addressed this issue. Herein, COOH(+) ion implantation modified graphene (COOH(+)/graphene) and COOH functionalized graphene were designed by physical ion implantation and chemical methods, respectively. The structure and surface properties of COOH(+)/graphene and COOH functionalized graphene were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and contact angle measurement. Compared with graphene, COOH(+)/graphene and COOH functionalized graphene revealed improvement of cytocompatibility, including in vitro cell viability and morphology. More importantly, COOH(+)/graphene exhibited better improvement effects than functionalized graphene. For instance, COOH(+)/graphene with 1 × 10(18) ions/cm(2) showed the best cell-viability, proliferation and stretching. This study demonstrated that ion implantation can better improve the cytocompatibility of the graphene.