Anita Petrova

Bachelor student

Antibacterial Coating of Implant Surfaces Using Chitosan and ZnO-Doped Mesoporous Bioactive Glass Nanoparticles (Zn-MBGNs)

Supervisors: Luis Rosa, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini

Bacterial colonization on implant surfaces remains one of the key challenges in biomedical engineering. The subject of this thesis is the preparation of antibacterial coatings using Zn-doped mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles (MBGNs) (Zn-MBGNs, 70SiO₂-25CaO-5ZnO) embedded in a chitosan layer to enhance the adhesion and antibacterial activity of the coatings. The coatings will be obtained by electrophoretic deposition (EPD), processing method that allows the achievement of uniform coatings on implants with complex geometries. MBGN synthesis will be performed by the sol-gel technique. The main parameters that are varied in this work are deposition time, voltage, and electrode distance. Characterization techniques include SEM, zeta potential, FTIR, adhesion, wettability, and SBF tests for assesing the coating morphology, chemical composition, and bioactivity.