Zoya Hadzhieva

PhD-student

Bioactive and antibacterial coatings on metallic substrates by electrophoretic deposition

 

Supervisor: Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini

In spite of their extensive applications in the biomedical industry, metallic implants can still fail due to their potentially low osseointegration capability and proneness to infections [1]. In order to address these issues, the surface modification of metallic implants, e.g. depositing suitable bioactive coatings, is being investigated. The current research project aims to develop bioactive and antibacterial composite coatings for metallic implants, e.g. Ti alloys, by electrophoretic deposition (EPD), combining suitable biopolymers, inorganic fillers and bioactive molecules [2], [3]. The new coating systems will be fully characterized and compared in terms of biological and bactericidal activity, corrosion behavior, mechanical properties and in-vitro, time-dependent degradation behaviour. In addition, the interaction of the coatings with proteins and cells in vitro will be investigated to assess the suitability of the prepared coatings for bone tissue engineering and orthopedic applications.

 

[1]      K. Prasad, O. Bazaka, M. Chua, M. Rochford, et al. (2017) “Metallic biomaterials: Current challenges and opportunities” , Materials (Basel)., 10 (8), 884.

[2]      N. Meyer, L. R. Rivera, T. Ellis, J. Qi, M. P. Ryan, A. R. Boccaccini (2018) “Bioactive and antibacterial coatings based on zein/bioactive glass composites by electrophoretic deposition” , Coatings, 8 (27).

[3]      F. Pishbin, V. Mouriño, S. Flor, S. Kreppel, et al. (2014) “Electrophoretic deposition of gentamicin-loaded bioactive glass/chitosan composite coatings for orthopaedic implants” , ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 6 (11), pp. 8796–8806.