Antimicrobial property, cytocompatibility and corrosion resistance of Zn-doped ZrO/TiO coatings on Ti6Al4V implants.

Zn-doped ZrO/TiO porous coatings (Zn-ZrO/TiO) were prepared on the surface of titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) by a hybrid approach of magnetron sputtering and micro-arc oxidation (MAO). The microstructures, phase constituents and elemental states of the coating were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results demonstrate that the Zn-ZrO/TiO coatings are porous and its thickness is approximately 13μm. The major phases in the oxidation coating are tetragonal ZrO (t-ZrO), cubic ZrO (c-ZrO) and rutile TiO. XPS result reveals that Zn exists as ZnO in the Zn-ZrO/TiO coatings. The biological experiments indicate that Zn-ZrO/TiO coatings exhibit not only excellent antibacterial property against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), but also favorable cytocompatibility. In addition, the corrosion resistance of the coating is also appreciably improved in the simulated body fluids (SBF), which can ensure better biocompatibility in body fluids.