Microdispersed Ti/B/N Materials Synthesized in Chain Reactions in Processes Initiated by Microwaves of a High-Power Gyrotron: Structure and Cytotoxicity

An original plasma-chemical facility has been developed at the Prokhorov General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences based on the gyrotrons of the thermonuclear complex of the L-2 M/MIG-3 stellarator. The scope of its applications includes the synthesis of powders for new types of catalysts, the formation and doping of ceramics, and other applications. We have previously demonstrated that in specific conditions, chain oscillatory reactions can be initialized in the reactor by powerful microwave pulses of the gyrotron in mixtures of metal and dielectric powders, resulting in the formation of microdispersed materials with controllable physical and chemical properties.

In such reactions, initiated in mixtures of Ti and B, BN powders in a series of particle samples with a developed surface have been obtained. The resulting materials have a heterogeneous composition and size distribution controlled by the synthesis conditions. Thus, the obtained structures exhibit repeatable characteristics attractive for numerous applications, from catalytic particle formation and reinforcement additives to biomedical materials. In order to analyze the hazardless of the materials, cytotoxicity tests were necessary.

In this work, the methods for such an analysis have been applied. The study of the obtained samples for cytotoxicity against human cells (lines HEK293T, MCF7, A549, VA13) showed toxic effects only at concentrations of tens of mg/L and the absence of detectable toxic effects in bacterial system (E. coli). The low toxicity at the cellular level indicates the potential for the safe use of the proposed microstructures, but requires further testing of safety at the organism level.