Tuning silver ion release properties in reactively sputtered Ag/TiO nanocomposites.
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Xiong, J.; Ghori, M.; Henkel, B.; Strunskus, T.; Faupel, F.; Schürmann, U.; Deng, M.; Kienle, L.
- Source
- Applied Physics A: Materials Science & Processing. Jul2017, Vol. 123 Issue 7, p1-11. 11p. 7 Graphs.
- Subject
- *SILVER ions
*REACTIVE sputtering
*NANOCOMPOSITE materials
*BIOCOMPATIBILITY
*TITANIUM oxides
*SILVER nanoparticles
*ANTIBACTERIAL agents
*MICROSTRUCTURE
- Language
- ISSN
- 0947-8396
Silver/titania nanocomposites with strong bactericidal effects and good biocompatibility/environmental safety show a high potential for antibacterial applications. Tailoring the silver ion release is thus highly promising to optimize the antibacterial properties of such coatings and to preserve biocompatibility. Reactive sputtering is a fast and versatile method for the preparation of such Ag/TiO nanocomposites coatings. The present work is concerned with the influence of sputter parameters on the surface morphology and silver ion release properties of reactively sputtered Ag/TiO nanocomposites coatings showing a silver nanoparticle size distribution in the range from 1 to 20 nm. It is shown that the silver ion release rate strongly depends on the total pressure: the coatings prepared at lower pressure present a lower but long-lasting release behavior. The much denser structure produced under these conditions reduces the transport of water molecules into the coating. In addition, the influence of microstructure and thickness of titanium oxide barriers on the silver ion release were investigated intensively. Moreover, for the coatings prepared at high total pressure, it was demonstrated that stable and long-lasting silver release can be achieved by depositing a barrier with a high rate. Nanocomposites produced under these conditions show well controllable silver ion release properties for applications as antibacterial coatings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]