Sol–gel preparation and properties of Ag–TiO₂ films on surface roughened Ti–6Al–4V alloy

Abstract

Ag–TiO₂ films (Ag/Ti = 3·3, 9·1 at-%) were sol–gel coated on Ti–6Al–4V alloy that had been surface roughened by the NaOH–HCl treatment for antibacterial applications. Scanning electron microscopy observation showed that pore size of the surface layer of NaOH–HCl treated Ti–6Al–4V alloy increased with the NaOH concentration. Ag–TiO₂ films on the surface roughened substrate were adherent and crack-free. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy analyses indicated that Ag existed in metallic state, and the films completely covered the roughened substrate. X-ray diffraction peaks of the substrate and anatase TiO₂ were detected. The Ag–TiO₂ films on the roughened substrate exhibited good adhesion quality and high cohesion strength in the indentation test. The potentiodynamic polarisation test showed that the TiO₂ and Ag–TiO₂ films improved corrosion resistance of the substrate.

Keywords:

• TiO₂
• Ag
• Antibacterial
• Sol–gel
• Corrosion

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Fund for the Central Universities (Grant No. xjj2011096), the Natural Science Fund of China (Grant No. 50901058 and No. 51371137) and the Strategy Research Grant of City University of Hong Kong (Grant No. 7004074). The authors would thank the reviewers for their helpful discussion and suggestions.