Fabrication and biocompatibility of carbon nanotube-based 3D networks as scaffolds for cell seeding and growth

Thin film networks of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were prepared by exerting chemically induced capillary forces upon the nanotubes. During this process MWCNTs undergo a transformation from being a vertically aligned structure to an interlocking resistive network of interconnected nanotubes, whose main feature is a regular three-dimensional (3D) sieve architecture. Due to their structural characteristics at the nanoscale level, 3D-MWCNT-based networks are in principle ideal candidates for scaffolds/matrices in tissue engineering. Their potential application in this field was confirmed by extensive growth, spreading, and adhesion of the common mouse fibroblast cell line L929.