Data from: Chromium oxide coatings with the potential for eliminating the risk of chromium ion release in orthopaedic implants

Chromium oxide coatings prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering on stainless steel substrates were exposed to Ringers physiological solution and tested for their electrochemical corrosion stability using open circuit, potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and Mott-Schottky analysis. The coatings were found to be predominantly , based on the observation of the dominance of in our Raman spectroscopy investigation and the vibrational modes in our Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) measurements on the coatings. We investigated for the presence of chromium ions in the Ringers solution after all of the above electrochemical tests using Atomic absorption spectroscopy without finding a trace of chromium ions at the ppm level for coatings tested under open circuit and at the lower potentials implants are likely to experience in the human body. The coatings were further exposed to Ringers solution for one month, tested for adhesion strength changes and we found out that they retained substantial adhesion to the substrates. We expect this finding to be significant for future orthopaedic implants where chromium ion release is still a major challenge.