Quantifying protein adsorption on combinatorially sputtered Al-, Nb-, Ta- and Ti-containing films with electron microprobe and spectroscopic ellipsometry

Although metallic biomaterials are widely used, systematic studies of protein adsorption onto such materials are generally lacking. Combinatorial binary libraries of Al1−xNbx, Al1−xTax, Al1−xTix, Nb1−xTax, Nb1−xTix, and Ta1−xTix (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 1) and a ternary library of Al1−xTixTay (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 1 and 0 ⩽ y ⩽ 0.7), along with their corresponding pure element films were sputtered onto glass substrates using a unique magnetron sputtering technique. Films were characterized with wavelength-dispersive spectroscopy (WDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Fibrinogen and albumin adsorption amounts were measured by wavelength-dispersive spectroscopy (WDS) and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) equipment, both high throughput techniques with automated motion stage capabilities. Protein adsorption onto these films was found to be closely correlated to the alumina surface fraction, with high alumina content at the surface leading to low amounts of adsorbed fibrinogen and albumin. Protein adsorption amounts obtained with WDS and SE were in good agreement for all films.