Christoph Wörz

Bachelor student

Electrophoretic deposition of functional composite coatings based on natural polymers for biomedical application

Supervisors: Zoya Hadzhieva, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini

Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) is a common and well-known deposition method for metallic substrates, characterized by its simple and low-cost setup, extensive optimization possibilities and great potential for industrial application [1,2]. Natural polymers, like chitosan and zein, offer a huge potential for producing new bioactive and antibacterial coatings, deposited by EPD, for orthopedic applications as well as bone tissue engineering [3].
This Bachelor’s thesis aims to optimize these polymer-coatings by introducing vanillin as cross-linking agent to improve their mechanical properties and chemical stability. Furthermore bioactive glass will be utilized to further improve the antibacterial and bioactive properties of the coatings [3].

[1] Egemen Avcu, Aldo R. Boccaccini et al., “Electrophoretic deposition of chitosan-based composite coatings for biomedical applications”, Progress in Materials Science 103, 2019.

[2] Aldo R. Boccaccini et al., “Electrophoretic deposition of biomaterials”, Journal of the royal society Interface, 7, 2010. (https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2010.0156.focus)

[3] Jue Hu et al., “Vanillin-bioglass cross-linked 3D porous chitosan scaffolds with strong osteopromotive and antibacterial abilities for bone tissue engineering” Carbohydrate Polymers 271, 2021.