Development of bioactive composite coatings based on combination of PEEK, bioactive glass and Ag nanoparticles with antibacterial properties

• Electrophoretic deposition applied to fabricate PEEK-Bioactive glass- Ag coatings
• Antibacterial effect affected by Ag content in EPD suspension
• Biocompatibility of coatings confirmed with MG63 cells

Bioactive materials such as bioactive glass (BG) 45S5 are being increasingly considered to produce coatings for metallic implants. In this paper, the development of novel coatings is presented, based on BG particles embedded in a stable polymer matrix of polyetheretherketone (PEEK). As a coating process, electrophoretic deposition (EPD) is used. In addition, to impart antibacterial properties, nanoparticulate silver was embedded in different concentrations. The antibacterial effect of the coatings was investigated using Escherichia coli bacteria cells. It was shown that the antibacterial effect could be adjusted by changing the silver concentration in suspension and therewith also in the coatings. The biocompatibility of the coatings was investigated by in vitro studies with MG 63 cells. It was shown that the incorporation of silver does not have a negative effect on the attachment and viability of the cells. In comparison to bare stainless steel, the present BG-containing PEEK-Ag coatings exhibited antibacterial properties as well as better cell attachment and spreading behavior, representing thus attractive coating layers for biomedical applications.