Effects of plasma treatment on bioactivity of TiO2 coatings

In this work, nano-TiO2 powders were deposited on titanium alloy substrates by atmospheric plasma spraying, followed by plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) using hydrogen, oxygen and ammonia gases. The bioactivities of PIII-treated TiO2 coatings were evaluated by the formation of apatite on their surface after soaked in simulated body fluids (SBF) for a period of time. As-sprayed TiO2 coating is composed of rutile, anatase and TiO2−x (most of them is Ti3O5). After immersion in SBF for two weeks, the hydrogen PIII-treated TiO2 coating can induce bone-like apatite formation on its surface but apatite cannot be formed on the surface of as-sprayed and oxygen, ammonia PIII-treated TiO2 coatings. The results obtained indicated that a hydrogenated surface plays a very important role to induce bioactivity of TiO2 coatings.