Vacuum wetting of Ag/TA2 to develop a novel micron porous Ti with significant biocompatibility and antibacterial activity

Abstract

· A simple approach to fabricate micron-scale porous Ti was developed. · A surface-layered porous structure dispersing with AgNPs was obtained on TA2. · Volatilization/sublimation of Ag in TA2 promotes forming the pores and AgNPs. · The porous Ti has excellent biocompatibility and bio-corrosion resistance. · The porous Ti has an excellent antibacterial activity. Porous Ti with low modulus, excellent bio-corrosion resistance, biocompatibility, and antibacterial activity is highly pursued as advanced implant materials. In this work, a new approach to prepare micron porous structures on the surface layer of a grade 2 commercially-pure Ti (TA2) was proposed, which utilized a simple vacuum wetting process of pure Ag on the surface of TA2. The microstructure, corrosion resistance, biocompatibility, mechanical properties, antibacterial ability, and formation mechanism of the as-fabricated porous Ti were studied. The results show that the pores (with average pore sizes of 0.5–5 μm) are distributed on the surface layer of the TA2 with a depth of ∼10 μm. In particular, a large number of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) form which are dispersed on the porous structures. The formation mechanisms of the porous structures and AgNPs were elucidated, suggesting that the volatilization/sublimation of Ag in TA2 is crucial. The porous Ti possesses excellent bio-corrosion resistance, surface wettability, biocompatibility, antibacterial activity, and a relatively low elastic modulus of 40–55 GPa, which may have a promising future in the field of orthopedic implants. This work also provides a novel idea for the development of advanced porous Ti materials for orthopedic-related basic research and biomedical applications.