IMF2017

The search for innovative and advanced materials for biological applications has been intensified in the recent years. This is because the advances in modern medicine, especially in the orthopedic and traumatology, are directly linked to the specific properties of these materials and new techniques for their synthesis and characterization. However, for satisfying the expectations of future advanced medicine it is necessary to obtain completely revolutionary materials, which may indicate new directions and provide faster results than the current ones. In this sense, novel multifunctional materials emerge as strong candidates for fulfill these underserved biomedical applications. This is the case of (ferro)piezoelectric/bioactive compounds, as polyvinylidene fluoride-hydroxyapatite (PVDF-HAp), which can catalyze the bone growth by piezoelectric voltage and/or electro-mechanical distention/contraction stimuli. In adition, magnetic structures (Fe₄O₃-like) can be added to the composite to provide responses to external magnetic stimuli. In this work, an innovative bioactive polyvinylidene fluoride-hydroxyapatite ferroelectric composite was synthesized and characterized. Microstructural analyzes of samples immersed in simulated body fluid high-bioactivity by controlled times revel an elevated rate (210 nm per day) of synthetic osseous tissue (apatite) growing on the composites surface with and without external stimuli. At room temperature, the polar polyvinylidene fluoride (β2) phase besides elevated remnant polarizations (40 kV/cm2) and coercive fields (28 kV/cm) were observed in structural and ferroelectric investigations. These results indicate the high-potential for synthetic apatite growth on polyvinylidene fluoride-hydroxyapatite ferroelectric composites by using alternating electric fields in-vitro or in-vivo experiments.