Development of a novel biodegradable and anti-bacterial polyurethane coating for biomedical magnesium rods

Surface modification of biomedical Mg with functional polymers coatings is an effective and simple strategy to improve the corrosion resistance and anti-bacterial property. Herein, we develop a novel biodegradable and anti-bacterial polymer coating for Mg rods. A key feature of our approach is to treat the Mg rods with polyurethane, a widely used coating material with strong structural controllability and good film-formation property. Polyurethanes (PU) functionalized by polyethylene glycol (PEG) chains (GPU) and zwitterions (ZPU) were firstly synthesized and subsequently applied to fabricate coatings on Mg-based rods. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) result demonstrates that a homogeneous and dense layer with a thickness of ~4-15 μm is readily formed on the substrates by dip-coating method. We first investigated how PU coatings would affect their resulting corrosion behaviors by the electrochemical corrosion test, surface morphology examining and element analysis of the immersed samples. Then, we evaluated their protection capabilities and the relationship to Mg²⁺ ion release and pH value alteration under the physiological conditions. Results show that the corrosion resistance of Mg rods is improved appreciably after coating with the synthesized PU polymers. More importantly, the functionalized PU exhibit enhanced antibacterial performance and excellent blood compatibility. In particular, ZPU-12 not only successfully improves the corrosion resistance of substrates, but also produces an antimicrobial coating for preventing bacterial attachment. The application of these functionalized PU coatings for the surface modification of biomedical Mg-based alloys can provide a practical and potential strategy to expedite their clinical acceptance.