Cytocompatible carbon nanotube reinforced polyethylene glycol composite hydrogels for tissue engineering

Abstract Hydrogels are attractive materials for stimulating 3D cell growth and tissue regeneration, and they provide mechanical support and physical cues to guide cell behavior. Herein, we developed a robust methodology to increase the stiffness of polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogels by successfully incorporating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) within the polymer matrix. Interestingly, hydrogels containing pristine CNTs showed a higher stiffness (1915 ± 102 Pa) than both hydrogels without CNTs (1197 ± 125 Pa) and hydrogels incorporating PEG-grafted CNTs (867 ± 103 Pa) ( p p