Characterization of the electrophoretic deposition, microstructure and selected properties of chitosan coatings with curcumin on titanium substrates - research data

The study aims to investigate electrophoretic deposition (EPD) route, microstructure, and surface properties of composite curcumin/chitosan coatings on commercially pure titanium substrates for biomedical applications. The zeta potential of solutions with various curcumin content in ethanol or isopropanol proved their relatively low electrophoretic mobility. Thus, curcumin was co-deposited with chitosan molecules on the cathode. Multiple routes of preparation of the dispersed system for the EPD process have been analyzed to obtain homogeneous coatings, and the influence of the curcumin solvent, the mixing time, and the EPD parameters on the morphology of the coatings has been investigated. The results showed that homogeneous coatings were obtained by dissolving up to 1 g/L of curcumin powder in ethanol before adding the chitosan solution and performing the deposition process using 10 V for 6 minutes. The surface morphology of the coatings consisted of submicrometric curcumin particles embedded in the chitosan matrix. The increase in the curcumin content in the ethanol caused large agglomerates and undissolved curcumin particles to appear on the coating surface. The coatings were characterized by a high adhesion to the substrate and a water contact angle in the range of 85°-95°. The developed coatings may be promising for mitigating biofilm formation processes on titanium implants. However, further advanced microbiological studies are needed to evaluate their antimicrobial properties.