Poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) is a com-
mon hydrogel that has been actively investigated for various
tissue engineering applications owing to its biocompatibility
and excellent mechanical properties. However, the native
PEGDA films are known for their bio-inertness which can hin-
der cell adhesion, thereby limiting their applications in tissue
engineering and biomedicine. Recently, nano composite tech-
nology has become a particularly hot topic, and has led to the
development of new methods for delivering desired properties
to nanomaterials. In this study, we added polystyrene nano-
spheres (PS) into a PEGDA solution to synthesize a nano-
composite film and evaluated its characteristics. The experi-
mental results showed that addition of the nanospheres to the
PEGDA film not only resulted in modification of the mechan-
ical properties and surface morphology but further improved
the adhesion of cells on the film. The tensile modulus showed
clear dependence on the addition of PS, which enhanced the
mechanical properties of the PEGDA-PS film. We attribute the
high stiffness of the hybrid hydrogel to the formation of addi-
tional cross-links between polymeric chains and the nano-
sphere surface in the network. The effect of PS on cell adhesion
and proliferation was evaluated in L929 mouse fibroblast cells
that were seeded on the surface of various PEGDA-PS films.

• Facile modulation of cell adhesion to a poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate film with incorporation of polystyrene nano-spheres