Effect of Low-Temperature Oxygen Plasma Treatment of Titanium Alloy Surface on Tannic Acid Coating Deposition
Mariusz Winiecki,
Magdalena Stepczyńska,
Krzysztof Moraczewski,
Lukasz Skowronski,
Marek Trzcinski,
Tomasz Rerek,
Rafał Malinowski
Affiliations
Mariusz Winiecki
Department of Constructional Materials and Biomaterials, Faculty of Materials Engineering, Kazimierz Wielki University, Chodkiewicza 30, 85-064 Bydgoszcz, Poland
Magdalena Stepczyńska
Department of Polymer Materials Engineering, Faculty of Materials Engineering, Kazimierz Wielki University, Chodkiewicza 30, 85-064 Bydgoszcz, Poland
Krzysztof Moraczewski
Department of Polymer Materials Engineering, Faculty of Materials Engineering, Kazimierz Wielki University, Chodkiewicza 30, 85-064 Bydgoszcz, Poland
Lukasz Skowronski
Division of Surface Science, Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering, Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology, Kaliskiego 7, 85-796 Bydgoszcz, Poland
Marek Trzcinski
Division of Surface Science, Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering, Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology, Kaliskiego 7, 85-796 Bydgoszcz, Poland
Tomasz Rerek
Division of Surface Science, Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering, Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology, Kaliskiego 7, 85-796 Bydgoszcz, Poland
Rafał Malinowski
Łukasiewicz Research Network—Institute for Engineering of Polymer Materials and Dyes, Marii Skłodowskiej-Curie 55, 87-100 Torun, Poland
In this study, the effect of low-temperature oxygen plasma treatment with various powers of a titanium alloy surface on the structural and morphological properties of a substrate and the deposition of a tannic acid coating was investigated. The surface characteristics of the titanium alloy were evaluated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and contact angle measurements. Following this, the tannic acid coatings were deposited on the titanium alloy substrates and the structural and morphological properties of the tannic acid coatings deposited were subject to characterization by XPS, SEM, and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) measurements. The results show that the low-temperature oxygen plasma treatment of titanium alloys leads to the formation of titanium dioxides that contain –OH groups on the surface being accompanied by a reduction in carbon, which imparts hydrophilicity to the titanium substrate, and the effect increases with the applied plasma power. The performed titanium alloy substrate modification translates into the quality of the deposited tannic acid coating standing out by higher uniformity of the coating, lower number of defects indicating delamination or incomplete bonding of the coating with the substrate, lower number of cracks, thinner cracks, and higher thickness of the tannic acid coatings compared to the non-treated titanium alloy substrate. A similar effect is observed as the applied plasma power increases.
