A novel titania/calcium silicate hydrate hierarchical coating on titanium

Recently, surface micron/nano-topographical modifications have attracted a great deal of attention because it is capable of mimicking the hierarchical characteristics of bone. In the current work, a novel titania/calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) bi-layer coating with hierarchical surface topography was successfully prepared on titanium substrate through micro-arc oxidation (MAO) and subsequent hydrothermal treatment (HT). MAO treatment could lead to a micron-scale topographical surface with numerous crater-like protuberances. The subsequent HT process enables the in situ nucleation and growth of CSH nanoplates on MAO-fabricated titania surface. The nucleation of CSH nanoplates is considered to follow a dissolution-precipitation mechanism. Compared to MAO-fabricated coating with single-scale surface topography, MAO-HT-fabricated coating with hierarchical surface topography exhibits enhanced hydrophilicity, fibronectin adsorption and initial MG-63 cell attachment. The process of cell-material interactions is considered to be triggered by surface properties of the coated layer and indirectly mediated by protein adsorption on coating surface. These results suggest that MAO-HT treatment is an efficient way to prepare coatings with hierarchical surface topography on titanium surface, which is essential for altering protein adsorption and initial cell attachment.