Surface characterization and antibacterial efficiency of well-ordered TiO2 nanotube surfaces fabricated on titanium foams.

Titanium (Ti)-based implants are not compatible enough due to their bio-inert character, insufficient antibacterial capabilities and stress-shielding problem for dental and orthopaedic implant applications. Thus, this work focused to fabricate, analyze and improve antibacterial properties titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanotube array surfaces on Ti foam by anodic oxidation (AO) process. The well-ordered nanotube arrays with approximately 75 nm were successfully fabricated at 40 V for 1 h on Ti foams. Ti and O were observed as major elements on AO-coated Ti foam surfaces. In addition, the existence of TiO2 structure was proved on AO-coated foam Ti surfaces. For potential dental and orthopedic implant application, in vitro antibacterial properties were investigated versus Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. For both bacteria, antibacterial properties of TiO2 nanotube surface were greater than bare Ti foam. The bacterial inhibition versus Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli of TiO2 nanotube surfaces are improved as 53.3% and 69.4% compared to bare Ti foam.

The Effects of Film Thickness and Evaporation Rate on Si-Cu Thin Films for Lithium Ion Batteries.

The reversible cyclability of Si based composite anodes is greatly improved by optimizing the atomic ratio of Si/Cu, the thickness and the evaporation rates of films fabricated by electron beam deposition method. The galvanostatic test results show that 500 nm thick flim, having 10%at. Cu-90%at. Si, deposited with a moderate evaporation rate (10 and 0.9 Å/s for Si and Cu respectively) delivers 2642.37 mAh g(-1) as the first discharge capacity with 76% Coulombic efficiency. 99% of its initial capacity is retained after 20 cycles. The electron conductive pathway and high mechanical tolerance induced by Cu atoms, the low electrical resistivity of the film due to Cu3Si particles, and the homogeneously distributed nano-sized/amorphous particles in the composite thin film could explain this outstanding electrochemical performance of the anode.

Nanocolumnar structured porous Cu-Sn thin film as anode material for lithium-ion batteries.

Two nanocolumnar structured porous Cu-Sn films were produced by tuning the duration of the process using an oblique angle deposition (OAD) technique of electron beam coevaporation method. The structural and morphological properties of these porous Cu-Sn films are characterized using thin film X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microcopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Galvanostatic half-cell electrochemical measurements were conducted in between 5 mV to 2.5 V using a Li counter electrode, demonstrating that the Cu rich Cu6Sn5 thin film having homogenously distributed nanocolumns achieved a good cycleability up to 100 cycles with a high capacity retention, whereas the Cu6Sn5 nanostructured porous thick film with inhomogeneous morphology showed only a very short cycle life (<25 cycles).The difference in the electrochemical performances of the thin and thick nanocolumnar structured porous Cu-Sn films resulting from different evaporation duration was evaluated on the basis of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis on the cycled samples.