A study of the electrophoretic deposition of polycaprolactone-chitosan-bioglass nanocomposite coating on stainless steel (316L) substrates

In this research, bioglass nanoparticles were synthesized via sol-gel method and a polycaprolactone-chitosan-bioglass nanocomposite coating was formed on SS316L substrate using electrophoretic deposition method. Then, the effects of voltage and deposition time on morphology, thickness, roughness, and wettability of final coating were investigated. Finally, biocompatibility and toxicity of the coating were evaluated. The results showed that increase of both time and voltage enhanced the thickness, roughness, and wettability of coating. Also, increase of deposition time increased the agglomeration. Therefore, it can be concluded that voltage of 20 V and time of 10 min are suitable for the formation of a uniform agglomerate-free coating. The presence of bioglass nanoparticles also led to the increase of roughness and improvement of polycaprolactone hydrophobicity. The results also showed higher bioactivity in polycaprolactone-chitosan-1% bioglass nanocomposite coating sample. This sample had a roughness (R-a) of 1.048 +/- 0.037 mu m and thickness of 2.54 +/- 0.14 mu m. In summary, the results indicated that coating of polycaprolactone-chitosan-bioglass nanocomposite on SS316L substrate could be a suitable surface treatment to increase its in vivo bioactivity and biocompatibility.