Analysis of metal surfaces coated with europium-doped titanium dioxide by laser induced breakdown spectroscopy

The surface passivation with titanium sol-gel coatings is a frequently used technique to control the adsorption of selected biological macromolecules and to reduce the exposure of the bulk material to biological matter. Due to the increasing number of new coating-preparation methods and new gel compositions with various types of additives, the quality and homogeneity determination of the surface covering is a critical factor affecting performance of any implanted material. While coating thickness is easy to determine, the homogeneity of the surface distribution of coating materials requires more elaborate methodologies. In the paper, the laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) based method, capable to quantitate the homogeneity and uniformity of the europium in titanium dioxide sol-gel coatings on stainless steel surfaces prepared with two different procedures: spin-coating and dip-coating, is presented. The emission intensity of titanium has been used to determine the coating thickness whereas the relative values of europium and titanium emission intensities provide data on the coating homogeneity. The obtained results show that the spin-coating technique provides better surface coverage with titanium dioxide. However, when the surface coating compositions were compared the dip-coating technique was more reliable.