Ti4+ to Ti3+ conversion of TiO2 uppermost layer by low-temperature vacuum annealing: interest for titanium biomedical applications.
Because of the Ti(3+) defects responsibility for dissociative adsorption of water onto TiO(2) surfaces and due to the hydroxyls influence on the biological behavior of titanium, controlling the Ti(3+) surface defects density by means of low-temperature vacuum annealing is proposed to improve the bone/implant interactions. Experiments have been carried out on Ti-6Al-4V alloys exhibiting a porous surface generated primarily by chemical treatment. XPS investigations have shown that low-temperature vacuum annealing can create a controlled number of Ti(3+) defects (up to 21% Ti(3+)/Ti(4+) at 573 K). High Ti(3+) defect concentration is linked to surface porosity. Such surfaces, exhibiting high hydrophilicity and microporosity, would confer to titanium biomaterials a great ability to interact with surrounding proteins and cells and hence would favor the bone anchorage of as-treated implants.
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Biomatériaux et Réparation Tissulaire, INSERM U-443, Université Victor Segalen Boudeaux 2, 146 rue Léo Saignat, 33076 Bordeaux Cedex, France. fabien.guillemot@bordeaux.inserm.fr
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