Modulation of indomethacin release from ZrO2/PCL hybrid multilayers synthesized via sol–gel dip coating

The design of implantable therapeutic systems for bone or tooth repair, which can also release drugs, can reduce inflammatory or infectious side effects of the implant.In this work two materials, one wholly inorganic made of zirconia and the other one hybrid consisting of zirconia and poly(ε-caprolactone) (ZrO2/PCL), both containing indomethacin, have been synthesized via the sol–gel method and used to coat Titanium grade 4 substrates by the dip coating technique in order to develop dental implants to release the anti-inflammatory agent locally and in a controlled way.PCL was introduced in the synthesis to modulate the release kinetics and coatings, consisting of different numbers of layers were applied to the substrates to diversify the released dosage.FT-IR spectroscopy was used to study the coating chemical composition. SEM detected the nanostructure and the homogeneous morphology of the prepared coating. The indomethacin release study, performed by HPLC UV–vis spectroscopy, proves that the release ability is strongly affected by the number of layers.