Anodic TiO₂ nanotube layers electrochemically filled with MoO₃ and their antimicrobial properties

In the present work, the authors produce a Ti surface with a TiO₂ nanotube coating and investigate the electrochemical filling of these layers with MoO₃. The authors demonstrate that using a potential cycling technique, a homogenous MoO₃ coating can be generated. Controllable and variable coating thicknesses are achieved by a variation of the number of cycles. Thicknesses from a few nanometers to complete filling of the nanotube layers can be obtained. A thermal treatment is used to convert the as-deposited amorphous MoO(x) phases into MoO₃. These MoO₃ loaded nanotube layers were then investigated regarding their antimicrobial properties using strains of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The authors found that the combination of crystalline MoO₃ on TiO₂ nanotubes shows excellent antimicrobial properties.