Biological adhesion and electrochemical behavior of Ag-ZrO₂ bioceramic coatings for biomedical applications

Abstract

Recently, surface tailoring of the metallic implant has taken considerable attention to enhance the longevity of implants. In this study, two different concentrations of silver (Ag) with zirconia (ZrO₂) were deposited onto titanium (Ti) substrates using DC magnetron sputtering for both orthopedic and dental implants application. Thickness, surface morphology with elemental composition, functional group, and adhesion of the coatings were characterized by X–ray diffraction (XRD), stylus profilometer, field-emission scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (FESEM/EDAX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nano-scratch indentor, respectively. Monoclinic phase of ZrO₂ and cubic phase of Ag were confirmed with XRD. Nanostructured grains were obtained by FESEM analysis with the thickness of ∼300 nm, ∼700 nm and ∼800 nm for ZrO₂, ZrO₂–Ag and ZrO₂–Ag(1) (Herein, ZrO₂–Ag (low conc.) and ZrO₂–Ag(1) (high conc.) coatings measured by profilometer. The in vitro bacterial adhesion was performed for as prepared ZrO₂, ZrO₂–Ag and ZrO₂–Ag(1) coatings against E.coli, and Streptococcus sp. Adhesion study exhibits better performance for Ag containing ZrO₂ rather than ZrO₂ coated and uncoated Ti. Adhesion of platelet on the coated and uncoated Ti revealed that activated platelets are present in ZrO₂–Ag(1) coated Ti. ZrO₂ and ZrO₂–Ag coated Ti showed enhanced fibroblast cell attachment and proliferation than uncoated Ti but not in ZrO₂–Ag(1) coated Ti surface. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results revealed superior corrosion resistance behavior for all the coatings than uncoated Ti in ABP electrolyte. The results stated those tailored Ti surfaces were certainly used to enhance the durability of the implant for biomedical applications.

Keywords:

• Titanium
• zirconia
• silver
• bacterial adhesion
• platelet adhesion
• cell adhesion corrosion resistance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Financial support from Department of Biotechnology (BT/PR14718/MED/32/434/2015), New Delhi, India is greatly acknowledged.