N+ ion implantation-induced cell attachment to CNx coating prepared by ion beam assisted deposition

Ion beam-assisted deposition (IBAD) was used to synthesize carbon nitride (CN x ) coatings on Ti-6Al-4V alloy at room temperature at 100-eV NHn+ beam bombarding energy. Nitrogen ion implantation was also conducted on the prepared coatings. The effects of ion fluence on the chemical bonding structure of the coatings were characterized by XPS, and Raman and FTIR spectroscopic methods. The results showed that N+ ion implantation increased the N concentration of the prepared CN x coatings. The cell attachment tests gave promising results that N+ ion-implanted CN x coatings exhibited low macrophage attachment. The adhered fibroblasts showed normal cellular growth and morphology. Under a fluence of 5 × 1017 ion/cm2, the CN x coating exhibits more N concentration and sp3 bonds which may be responsible for the changes in the cell attachment.