Copper-enriched diamond-like carbon coatings promote regeneration at the bone–implant interface

There have been several attempts to design innovative biomaterials as surface coatings to enhance the biological performance of biomedical implants. The objective of this study was to design multifunctional Cu/a-C:H thin coating depositing on the Ti-6Al-4V alloy (TC4) via magnetron sputtering in the presence of Ar and CH₄ for applications in bone implants. Moreover, the impact of Cu amount and sp²/sp³ ratio on the interior stress, corrosion behavior, mechanical properties, and tribological performance and biocompatibility of the resulting biomaterial was discussed. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that the sp²/sp³ portion of the coating was enhanced for samples having higher Cu contents. The intensity of the interior stress of the Cu/a-C:H thin bio-films decreased by increase of Cu content as well as the sp²/sp³ ratio. By contrast, the values of Young's modulus, the H³/E² ratio, and hardness exhibited no significant difference with enhancing Cu content and sp²/sp³ ratio. However, there was an optimum Cu content (36.8 wt.%) and sp²/sp³ ratio (4.7) that it is feasible to get Cu/a-C:H coating with higher hardness and tribological properties. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy test results depicted significant improvement of Ti-6Al-4V alloy corrosion resistance by deposition of Cu/a-C:H thin coating at an optimum Ar/CH₄ ratio. Furthermore, Cu/a-C:H thin coating with higher Cu contents showed better antibacterial properties and higher angiogenesis and osteogenesis activities. The coated samples inhibited the growth of bacteria as compared to the uncoated sample (p < 0.05). In addition, such coating composition can stimulate angiogenesis, osteogenesis and control host response, thereby increasing the success rate of implants. Moreover, Cu/a-C:H thin films encouraged development of blood vessels on the surface of titanium alloy when the density of grown blood vessels was increased with enhancing the Cu amount of the films. It is speculated that such coating can be a promising candidate for enhancing the osseointegration features.