Hydrothermal–electrochemical CaTiO3 coatings as precursor of a biomimetic calcium phosphate layer

The hydrothermal–electrochemical method was used to coat Ti and Ti6Al4V with calcium titanate CaTiO3. The film exhibited a plate-like structure with several isolated pinholes around 100 nm in diameter. These coated samples were treated by a biomimetic procedure, immersing them in a simulated body fluid (SBF) solution for 5, 10 and 28 days. Characterization was performed by means of X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The CaTiO3-coated samples after the SBF treatment showed a significant increment in their calcium and phosphorous amounts as compared with SBF-treated samples with no previous CaTiO3 coating; the latter exhibited only surface phosphate incorporation.