Development and characterization of silver and zinc doped bioceramic layer on metallic implant materials for orthopedic application

A successful electrodeposition method for preparing silver and zinc modified bioactive calcium phosphate layers onto surgical grade titanium alloy material (Ti6Al4V) was developed. The coatings were deposited on the Ti6Al4V surface by pulse current at 70 °C from an electrolyte containing adequate amounts of calcium nitrate, ammonium dihydrogen phosphate, zinc nitrate and silver nitrate. The corrosion resistivity of the bioceramic coatings was assessed in conventional Ringer?s solution in a three electrode open cell by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques. The results revealed the pure bioactive calcium phosphate (CaP) coated implant materials to possess the highest resistivity to corrosion, while the silver and zinc doped CaP layer showed at least one order of magnitude lower corrosion resistance. These modified CaP coatings can be further considered as antimicrobial coatings with enhanced biocompatibility. The morphology and structure of the coatings were characterized by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) that confirmed the pulse current deposited CaP layer to consist of a mixture of different calcium phosphate phases such as hydroxyapatite (HAp), monetite (dicalcium phosphate, CaHPO₄) as well as other Ca-containing components, portlandite (Ca(OH)₂) and parascholzite (CaZn₂(PO₄)₂(H₂O)₂).