Modification of the surface of titanium into titania (TiO2) nanotube (TNT) arrays was performed by electrochemical anodization to design an endoprosthesis for maxillofacial surgery. TNT arrays with different surface structures were successfully coated on titanium substrates by varying the anodizing voltages and annealed at 450 °C for 4 h. The phase composition and morphology of the nanotubes were examined by x-ray powder diffraction and field-emission scanning electron microscopy, respectively. The biological functions and water wettability of various surface structures were also investigated. The results demonstrated that the annealed nanotubes were composed of an anatase phase only at all applied voltages. The tube diameters and lengths increased as the voltage increased. The surfaces with modification had more wettability, cell adhesion, proliferation, alkaline phosphatase activity and calcium deposition than the surfaces without modification. Finally, the results demonstrated that a modified surface of titanium to produce TNT arrays as a biomaterial is promising to design an osseointegrated surface of endoprosthesis for maxillofacial surgery.

In this work, titanium dioxide nanotubes (TNTs) were prepared by anodization method with carbon cathode rather than the conventional platinum electrode. The composition of electrolyte and the anodizing voltage was fixed as constant for this research. Carbon plate was used as the counter electrode and the anodizing times were varied for 5 h and 10 h. After anodization, the samples were further annealed at 450 °C to crystallize the as-produced TNTs. Phase composition and morphology were identified by XRD and FESEM, respectively. Wettability of the samples were examined using a contact angle instrument. The results showed that the annealed TNTs were anatase phase with average pore diameter and tube-length of 28.7 nm and 284.6 nm for 5 h, and 30.0 nm and 376.5 nm for 10 h, respectively. The differences in pore diameter and length of the nanotube samples were due to the effect of anodizing time. Wettability of both annealed TNTs was also affected by anodizing time. The surface modifications and wettability results suggested potential applications in biomedical fields.