Michelle Franz

Bachelor student

Borate bioactive glass-containing coatings on titanium substrates by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) for biomedical applications

Supervisors: Dr. Zoya Hadzhieva, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini

Borate bioactive glasses (BBGs) are attracting growing interest in biomedical engineering due to their rapid degradation and the release of biologically active ions that can support tissue regeneration and wound healing [1]. However, preserving the amorphous glassy network during synthesis remains a key challenge, as BBGs tends to crystallize at higher modifier contents [1]. This project therefore aims to synthesize amorphous BBG particles via a sol-gel route and deposit them, combined with biopolymers, onto titanium implants by electrophoretic deposition (EPD), a versatile, low-temperature colloidal coating technique [2,3]. We comparatively evaluate different polymers as organic matrices to obtain homogeneous, crack-free composite coatings, as polymeric binders can improve coating adhesion to the substrate and avoid high-temperature densification steps [3]. The coatings are finally characterized for their structural, morphological, and bioactive properties [1].

[1] Zheng, K. et al. Sol-gel derived B2O3-CaO borate bioactive glasses with hemostatic, antibacterial and proangiogenic activities. Regenerative Biomaterials 2024, 11, rbad105. doi:10.1093/rb/rbad105

[2] Besra, L.; Liu, M. A review on fundamentals and applications of electrophoretic deposition (EPD). Progress in Materials Science 2007, 52, 1-61. doi:10.1016/j.pmatsci.2006.07.001

[3] Boccaccini, A.R. et al. Electrophoretic deposition of biomaterials. J. R. Soc. Interface 2010, 7, S581-S613. doi:10.1098/rsif.2010.0156.focus