In this study, the surfaces of titanium (grade 2) substrates were modified by different methods and then coated with a hydroxyapatite-graphene oxide (HA-GO) composite by electrophoretic deposition (EPD). The aim of the study is to improve the surface properties and increase the hydrophilicity of the surface of titanium by different surface treatments. The surface modification processes are as follows: sandblasting (S), acid etching (E), and finally anodic spark oxidation (ASO) on the etched surface. After the surface modification processes, the surface of titanium was coated with HA-GO suspensions (0, 2, 4, and 6 wt% GO) with a voltage value of 20 for 5 minutes by the EPD method. The surface morphology, elemental analysis, contact angle, phase composition, adhesion, biocompatibility, and bioactivity of the produced coatings were examined. Bioactivity analysis was performed in simulated body fluid (SBF) for 14 days. The MTT experiment was conducted with L929 (mouse fibroblast) cell cultures in accordance with the 70% cell viability criterion. As a result of contact angle measurements, it was observed that all samples showed hydrophilic behavior due to the increased surface area after ASO treatment. The contact angle of the sanded surface was 71.03°, whereas the contact angles of the ASO treatment and HA-GO coatings after the coating process were measured below 5 degrees. The bioactivity test results indicated that the surface modified with HA-GO (4 wt%) exhibited the best apatite nucleation outcome. As a result of the analysis with L929 cells, HA, HA-GO (2 wt%), HA-GO (4 wt%) composite coatings showed biocompatible behaviour with 102.17, 76.52, and 80.43% cell viability, respectively. The best result in the adhesion test was reported for HA-GO (4 wt.%) coating with class 5B.
Read full abstract