Ultra-fast setting rate of a new bioactive binder for bone repair

Polymer bone binder has attracted lots of attention due to its facile preparation, biodegradability, and so on. However, achieving strong adhesion, easy preparation, and fast setting rate for polymer bone binding is still a great challenge. So, here, a new polymer bone binder is developed and prepared to simultaneously improve setting rate and strength. The bone binder is composed of polyethyleneglycol, ethylhydroacrylate, chitosan, and SiO₂ nanoparticles. It exhibits good biocompatibility and large bonding strength (ca. 2.0 MPa). Furthermore, the bone binder shows an ultra-fast setting rate (ca. 100 s), which is far faster than that reported in previous works. The bone binder is further evaluated to bond chicken bone, which exhibits a high binding force of 2.0 kgf in a short setting time of only 5.0 min. The good biocompatibility and the large bonding strength of the present bone binder are attributed to the green and environmentally friendly composition (e.g., cyanoacrylate, chitosan, polyethyleneglycol and SiO₂ nanoparticles) and cross-linking network between chitosan and SiO₂ nanoparticles. The ultra-fast setting process is attributed to the rapid polymerization of cyanoacrylate and the physical interaction of SiO₂ nanoparticles with chitosan and polyethyleneglycol. The work provides a new method to design and prepare high-performance bone binders for use in bone fracture repair.

Graphical abstract