Nanomaterials (Jun 2024)

Synthesis of Ag-Doped Tetrahedral Amorphous Carbon Coatings and Their Antibiofilm Efficacy for Medical Implant Application

  • Davoodbasha MubarakAli,
  • Sung-Min Kim,
  • Yu-Been Ko,
  • Jung-Wan Kim,
  • Young-Jun Jang,
  • Sang-Yul Lee

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14121017
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 12
p. 1017

Abstract

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Tetrahedral amorphous carbon (taC) is a hydrogen-free carbon with extensive properties such as hardness, optical transparency, and chemical inertness. taC coatings have attracted much attention in recent times, as have coatings doped with a noble metal. A known antimicrobial metal agent, silver (Ag), has been used as a dopant in taC, with different Ag concentrations on the Ti64 coupons using a hybrid filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) and magnetron sputtering system. The physiochemical properties of the coated surface were investigated using spectroscopic and electron microscopy techniques. A doping effect of Ag-taC on biofilm formation was investigated and found to have a significant effect on the bacterial-biofilm-forming bacteria Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa depending on the concentration of Ag. Further, the effect of coated and uncoated Ag-taC films on a pathogenic bacterium was examined using SEM. The result revealed that the Ag-taC coatings inhibited the biofilm formation of S. aureus. Therefore, this study demonstrated the possible use of Ag-taC coatings against biofilm-related complications on medical devices and infections from pathogenic bacteria.

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