One pot synthesis of nanodiamonds embedded glass-ceramics from egg yolk

Abstract

Egg-derived materials and nanodiamonds are promising biomaterials, especially for tissue engineering. However, nanodiamond synthesis requires high pressure and temperature, such as the detonation technique, which is expensive, cumbersome, and contains toxic heavy elements unsuitable for biological applications. Similarly, egg-derived materials such as eggshell, eggshell membrane and egg white provide a natural and inexpensive source of biomaterial; however, the role of egg yolk as a biomaterial has received little attention. In this study, we have synthesized a glass from the egg yolk and characterized using microscopic, diffraction and spectroscopic techniques. In TEM analysis, nanodiamonds were observed inside the glass. XRD reveals the amorphous nature of glass. Infrared and Raman spectroscopies revealed that the glass that is composed of interlinked phosphate tetrahedra of varying length. In in vitro studies, the glass induced the formation of hydroxyapatite and enhanced the secretion of extracellular matrix from cells. Moreover, the in vitro cyto-compatibility study establishes the egg glass with the embedded nanodiamonds as a potential biomaterial in the tissues engineering application. This is the first report on the synthesis of a glass-ceramic material from egg yolk, where the carbon crystallized into nanodiamonds within the glass matrix.