Influence of Ti nanocrystallization on microstructure, interface bonding, surface energy and blood compatibility of surface TiO2 films

Recent progress in ultrafine-grained/nano-grained (UFG/NG) titanium permits a consideration for TiO₂ films deposited on nano-grained titanium for antithrombogenic application such as artificial valves and stents. For this paper, the microstructure, interface bonding, surface energy, and blood compatibility features of TiO₂ films deposited by direct current magnetron reactive sputtering technology on NG titanium and coarse-grained (CG) titanium were investigated. The results show that the nanocrystallization of titanium substrate has a significant influence on TiO₂ films. At the same deposition parameters, the content of rutile phase of TiO₂ film was increased from 47% (on the CG titanium substrate) to 72% (on the NG titanium substrate); the adhesion of TiO₂ film was improved from 5.8 N to 17 N; the surface energy was reduced from 6.37 dyn/cm to 3.01 dyn/cm; the clotting time was improved from 18 min to 28 min; the platelets accumulation and pseudopodium of adherent platelets on TiO₂ film on NG titanium were considerably reduced compared to that on CG titanium. The present results demonstrate the possibility of improving the blood compatibility of TiO₂ film through the approach of substrate nanocrystallization. Also it may provide an attractive idea to prepare stents with biological coatings of more outstanding blood compatibility and interface bonding.