Biocompatible 3D Printed MXene Microlattices for Tissue-Integrated Antibiotic Sensing

3D continuous mesoscale architectures of nanomaterials possess the potential to revolutionize real-time electrochemical biosensing through higher active site density and improved accessibility for cell proliferation. Herein, 3D microporous Ti3C2TX MXene biosensors are fabricated to monitor antibiotic release in tissue engineering scaffolds. The Ti3C2TX-coated 3D electrodes are prepared by conformal MXene deposition on 3D-printed polymer microlattices. The Ti3C2TX MXene coating facilitates direct electron transfer, leading to the efficient detection of common antibiotics such as gentamicin and vancomycin. The 3D microporous architecture exposes greater electrochemically active MXene surface area, resulting in remarkable sensitivity for detecting gentamicin (10-1 mM) and vancomycin (100-1 mM), 1000 times more sensitive than control electrodes composed of 2D planar films of Ti3C2TX MXene. To characterize the suitability of 3D microporous Ti3C2TX MXene sensors for monitoring drug elution in bone tissue regeneration applications, osteoblast-like (MG-63) cells are seeded on the 3D MXene microlattices for 3, 5, and 7 days. Cell proliferation on the 3D microporous MXene is tracked over 7 days, demonstrating its promising biocompatibility and its clinical translation potential. Thus, 3D microporous Ti3C2TX MXene can provide a platform for mediator-free biosensing, enabling new applications for in vivo monitoring of drug elution. This study presents microporous biosensors that integrate 2DTi3C2TX MXenes with 3D printed microlattices to boost sensing performance and facilitate biocompatibility for in vivo monitoring of drug elution. These high surface area microlattices electrochemically detect broad-spectrum antibiotics used in drug-eluting biomaterials with a low limit of detection. This innovation can allow direct integration of sensing functionality within synthetic 3D biomaterials.image