A wear-resistant TiO2 nanoceramic coating on titanium implants for visible-light photocatalytic removal of organic residues.

An effective treatment for peri-implantitis is to completely remove all the bacterial deposits from the contaminated implants, especially the organic residues, to regain biocompatibility and re-osseointegration, but none of the conventional decontamination treatments has achieve this goal. The photocatalytic activity of TiO2 coating on titanium implants to degrade organic contaminants has attracted researchers' attention recently. But a pure TiO2 coating only responses to harmful ultraviolet light. Additionally, the poor coating mechanical properties are unable to protect the coating integrity versus initial mechanical decontamination. To address these issues, a unique TiO2 nanoceramic coating was fabricated on titanium substrates through an innovative plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) based procedure, which showed a disordered layer with oxygen vacancies on the outmost part. As a result, the coating could decompose methylene blue, rhodamine B, and pre-adsorbed lipopolysaccharide (LPS) under visible light. Additionally, the coating showed two-fold higher hardness than untreated titanium and excellent wear resistance against steel decontamination instruments, which could be attributed to the specific micro-structure, including the densely packed nanocrystals and good metallurgical combination. Moreover, the in vitro response of MG63 cells confirmed that the coating had comparable biocompatibility and osteoconductivity to untreated titanium substrates. This study provides a unique coating technique as well as a photocatalytic cleaning strategy to enhance decontamination of titanium dental implants, which will favour the development of peri-implantitis treatments. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: The treatment of peri-implantitis is based on the complete removal of bacterial deposits, especially the organic residues, but conventional decontamination treatments are hard to achieve it. The photocatalytic activity of TiO2 coating on titanium implants to degrade organic contaminants provides a promising strategy for deeper decontamination, but its nonactivation to visible light and poor mechanical properties have limited its application. To address these issues, a unique TiO2 nanoceramic coating was fabricated on titanium substrates based on plasma electrolytic oxidation. The coating showed enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity, excellent wear resistance and satisfied biocompatibility. Based on this functional coating, it is promising to develop a more efficient strategy for deep decontamination of implant surface, which will favour the development of peri-implantitis treatments.