Electrochemical and Antibacterial Performance of CoCrMo Alloy Coated with Hydroxyapatite or Silver Nanoparticles

This paper presents a comparative study of antimicrobial and electrochemical performance of CoCrMo alloy surface treated with hydroxyapatite coating or silver nanoparticles (nAg) in the presence/absence of albumin addition. Nanoparticles dimension was quantified using dynamic light scattering. Antibacterial activity was evaluated by a spread plate method, while electrochemical characterization of CoCrMo samples coated and uncoated was studied by open circuit potential and cyclic polarization experiments. Furthermore, all surface coatings characterization was investigated by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron spectroscopy, and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. The highest corrosion rate in simulated body solution (SBF) is for untreated CoCrMo alloy, and the lowest value is for CoCrMo alloy treated with nAg after addition in SBF of 80 g/L albumin. Only the surface treated with nAg has antibacterial effect.