Nanoclays for biomedical applications

Clays are naturally occurring layered mineral materials that are low cost and environmentally friendly. Nanoclays are clay minerals with at least one dimension in the order of 1-100 nm. In nature, two forms of nanoclays, anionic and cationic clays, are present depending on the surface layered charge and the types of interlayer ions. Commonly found nanoclays in the literature are montmorillonite, kaolinite, laponite, halloysite, bentonite, hectorite, laponite, sepiolite,saponite, and vermiculite, among others. Nanoclays have been widely used as reinforcements for polymer matrix composites improving mechanical, thermal, and anticorrosion properties, for example. Due to being nontoxic, nanoclays and their composites have been studied for biomedical applications such as bone cement, tissue engineering, drug delivery, wound healing, and enzyme immobilization, among others. This chapter presents the state of the art of biomedical application of nanoclays and nanoclay-polymer matrix composite materials.