Fabricating multifunctional CeO₂/TiO₂/chitosan composite coatings by electrophoretic deposition with promising antibacterial activity for biomedical implants.

Authors

K K Anavadya, U Vijayalakshmi

Published in

Journal of materials chemistry. B. Nov 03, 2026. Epub Nov 03, 2026.

Abstract

Surface modifications are employed over metallic implants to confer ameliorated long-term protection and to mitigate plausible infections and thereby ensure prolonged and sustained implant stability. The current investigation involves fabricating a coating using a physical modification technique, namely electrophoretic deposition. With Ti-6Al-4V alloy as the underlying substrate, a coating consisting of a composite system of CeO₂/TiO₂ in conjunction with chitosan is employed. The bioinert, but biocompatible nature of rutile TiO₂ is complemented by CeO₂, noted for its antioxidant and antibacterial potential, along with chitosan as a bioactive polymer to form a multifunctional composite. The fabricated coatings are evaluated for morphology and topography using digital microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), revealing an optimal surface roughness of 1.7 ± 0.16 µm and a thickness of 47.3 ± 0.58 µm desirable for biological responses, at an applied voltage of 40 V and a process time of 3.5 minutes. The densely packed, compact particle deposition resulted in notable mechanical behaviour with a Vickers hardness value of 475 ± 5.9 HV at 40 V and a contact angle of 39.86 ± 1.2°, reflecting a hydrophilic nature conducive to implant coatings. The antibacterial efficiency assessed with the disc diffusion method revealed a slightly greater inhibition for S. aureus compared to E. coli. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for S. aureus was identified as 1 mg mL^-1, which was also corroborated by the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) determination. The observed inhibition against S. aureus is primarily attributed to the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and modulation from the composite system along with the chitosan-mediated electrostatic binding. The porous peptidoglycan cell wall causes diffusion of ROS molecules and eventually causes bacterial cell lysis. The findings from our study thus demonstrate the suitability of the coating's potential to serve as a potent antibacterial coating for biomedical implants.

PMID:
42975512
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 03 Nov 2026.

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