We present the study of the biocompatibility and surface properties of titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin films deposited by direct current magnetron sputtering. These films are deposited on a quartz substrate at room temperature and annealed with different temperatures (100, 300, 500, 800 and 1100 °C). The biocompatibility of the TiO2 thin films is analyzed using primary cultures of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) of Wistar rats, whose neurons are incubated on the TiO2 thin films and on a control substrate during 18 to 24 h. These neurons are activated by electrical stimuli and its ionic currents and action potential activity recorded. Through X-ray diffraction (XRD), the surface of TiO2 thin films showed a good quality, homogeneity and roughness. The XRD results showed the anatase to rutile phase transition in TiO2 thin films at temperatures between 500 and 1100 °C. This phase had a grain size from 15 to 38 nm, which allowed a suitable structural and crystal phase stability of the TiO2 thin films for low and high temperature. The biocompatibility experiments of these films indicated that they were appropriated for culture of living neurons which displayed normal electrical behavior.

A resonant magnetic field microsensor with a high quality factor at atmospheric pressure has been designed, fabricated and tested. This microsensor does not require vacuum packaging to operate efficiently and presents a compact and simple geometrical configuration of silicon. This geometry permits us to decrease the size of the structure and facilities its fabrication and operation. It is constructed of a seesaw plate (400 × 150 × 15 μm 3 ), two torsional beams (60 × 40 × 15 μm 3 ), four flexural beams (130 × 12 × 15 μm 3 ) and a Wheatstone bridge with four p-type piezoresistors. The resonant device exploits the Lorentz force principle and operates at its first resonant frequency (136.52 kHz). A sinusoidal excitation current of 22.0 mA with a frequency of 136.52 kHz and magnetic fields from 1 to 400 G are considered. The mechanical response of the microsensor is modeled with the finite element method (FEM). The structure of the microsensor registered a maximum von Mises stress of 53.8 MPa between the flexural and the torsional beams. Additionally, a maximum deflection (372.5 nm) is obtained at the extreme end of the plate. The proposed microsensor has the maximum magnetic sensitivity of 40.3 μV G −1 (magnetic fields <70 G), theoretical root-mean square (rms) noise voltage of 57.48 nV Hz −1/2 , theoretical resolution of 1.43 mG Hz −1/2 and power consumption less than 10.0 mW.

Cytotoxicity of titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin films on Chinese hamster ovary (CHO-K1) cells was evaluated after 24, 48 and 72 h of culture. The TiO2 thin films were deposited using direct current magnetron sputtering. These films were post-deposition annealed at different temperatures (300, 500 and 800 °C) toward the anatase to rutile phase transformation. The root-mean-square (RMS) surface roughness of TiO2 films went from 2.8 to 8.08 nm when the annealing temperature was increased from 300 to 800 °C. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) results showed that the TiO2 films’ thickness values fell within the nanometer range (290–310 nm). Based on the results of the tetrazolium dye and trypan blue assays, we found that TiO2 thin films showed no cytotoxicity after the aforementioned culture times at which cell viability was greater than 98%. Independently of the annealing temperature of the TiO2 thin films, the number of CHO-K1 cells on the control substrate and on all TiO2 thin films was greater after 48 or 72 h than it was after 24 h; the highest cell survival rate was observed in TiO2 films annealed at 800 °C. These results indicate that TiO2 thin films do not affect mitochondrial function and proliferation of CHO-K1 cells, and back up the use of TiO2 thin films in biomedical science.

No abstract

One of the main difficulties present in the materials manufacturing is the selection of substances that generate less polluting residues as well as effective in the synthesis process. In this study, we obtained TiO2 through electrochemical anodizing, using an acid easy to neutralize (hydrochloric acid), ethylene glycol and distilled water. The results showed the presence of nanostructures over the anodized surface observed by Scanning Electron Microscopy, with anatase and rutile phases, identified with Raman Spectroscopy. The presence of a nanostructured material on the surface of titanium, improved the value of Vickers Micro-hardness from 240 HV to 400 HV. It was possible to obtain a reduction of the friction coefficient from 0.8 to 0.2 as minimum value. The presence of a nanostructured layer of TiO2, with a mixture of anatase and rutile, markedly improved the mechanical properties of the titanium sheet.