Effects of Laser Texture Oxidation and High-Temperature Annealing of TiV Alloy Thin Films on Mechanical and Antibacterial Properties and Cytotoxicity

Abstract

Titanium dioxide and vanadium oxides have been applied extensively in industrial and medical fields. The objective of this study was to develop various composite structures of titanium and vanadium oxide (Ti-V-O) coatings on pure titanium through high-temperature annealing and laser texturing oxidation, separately; additionally, surface morphologies, tribological and hydrophilic properties, and antibacterial and biocompatibility abilities of these Ti-V-O coatings were evaluated. TiV alloy thin films were deposited on pure titanium and then annealed to form Ti-V-O coatings through thermal oxidation and laser texturing oxidation. Ball-on-disc wear tests and contact angle tests were conducted to evaluate the tribological properties and wettability of the coatings, respectively. The antibacterial activity of the coatings was estimated by SYTO9 nucleic acid staining with Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive bacteria). The cell cytotoxicity of the coatings was analyzed following the ISO 10995-5:2009 standard with human skin fibroblast cells. The Ti-V-O coatings, subjected to annealing at 700 °C, demonstrated higher hardness (Hv 1171) and a lower friction coefficient (0.6). The highest hardness (Hv 2711) and the lowest friction coefficient (0.52) were obtained for the Ti-V-O after laser surface texturing oxidation at 100 kHz. The oxide coating obtained from 100 kHz laser texturing oxidation exhibited the lotus effect because of its systematic textured microstructures, and displayed superhydrophobic surface properties. Compared with the unannealed TiV coating, both the samples with high-temperature annealing and laser surface texturing oxidation had excellent antibacterial properties to Staphylococcus aureus. However, the Ti-V-O thin films exhibited notable cell cytotoxicity. Although the cell viability on Ti-V-O coatings were not ideal, this study confirmed improvement in surface hardness, tribology, and antibacterial performance in Ti-V-O coatings, which may have potential for use in biomedical tools, devices, and equipment.

Laser Superficial Fusion of Gold Nanoparticles with PEEK Polymer for Cardiovascular Application

“…Gold being highly biocompatible does not tend to cause any side effect of being released inside the body [ 23 , 24 ]. The process carried out to produce biomimetic patterns on the surface has also been reported in the literature and in numerous studies to be positive for body response and mechanical properties, the analysis of which will be included in future studies [ 3 , 5 , 34 ].…”

“…That statement imposes a necessity of further improvement of the materials used for cardiac application to lower the re-operation and death rates, especially in short term after implantation of a foreign body into the system. Surface structuring through the use of a monochromatic light is a very beneficial method and is commonly studied for that purpose, being highly precise and flexible in terms of creating different possibilities to enhance surface morphology and chemistry [5][6][7]. Cell adhesion and proliferation are typically accom-plished by all surface forms of structures, such as pits and posts, which have been explored on the surface of various materials such as polymers and metals.…”

Targeting implant-associated infections: titanium surface loaded with antimicrobial

“…Several antimicrobials, active molecules, compounds, and ions have been incorporated on Ti surface as biofilm-targeting approaches in order to reduce microbial attachment on the surface. Importantly, cell cytotoxicity and short-term efficiency are currently the main limitations of coatings developed so far for Ti surface (or Ti alloys) ( Matos et al., 2017 ; Chang et al., 2018 ). Moreover, newly developed surface treatments or coatings should consider that bactericidal and/or bacteriostatic effect might not be enough to control biofilms in the long-term since dead cells remaining attached to the implant surface and can still act as binding sites for microorganism coaggregation, promoting colonization by live pathogens ( Koo et al., 2017 ).…”

Laser Assisted Size Reduction of Gold (Au) Particles onto a Titanium (Ti) Substrate Surface

“…One of the methods of effective particle size reduction is laser assisted particle reduction, the possibilities of which became the object of research of this paper. Laser superficial modification itself has a wide range of useful applications, due to its potential for changing surface chemistry through structuring morphology and being highly precise and repeatable [4][5][6][7][8][9]. The previous contribution of the authors described the possibility of obtaining nanosized Au particles infused in a polymer matrix with regular distribution and controlled amount of particles-both in size and quantity in laser irradiation area [10].…”