Exploration of the enhanced performances for silk fibroin/sodium alginate composite coatings on biodegradable Mg−Zn−Ca alloy

To expand the future clinic applications of biodegradable magnesium alloy, polymer coatings with excellent biocompatibility are the keys to solve the local alkalinity and rapid hydrogen release. Natural−organic silk fibroin provides an approach to fabricate a protective coating on biomedical Mg−Zn−Ca alloy, however, the adhesion force and mechanical properties of the coating on substrates are ought to be further improved without any chemical conversion/intermediate layer. Hereby, based on VUV/O3 surface activation, a hybrid of silk fibroin and sodium alginate is proposed to enhance the adhesion force and mechanical properties of the composite coatings on hydrophilic Mg−Zn−Ca alloy surfaces. Various mass ratios of sodium alginate addition were investigated to achieve the optimum coating strategy. The nanoscratch test and nanoindentation test confirmed that the adhesion force was tripled and mechanical properties index was significantly improved when the mass ratio of silk fibroin/sodium alginate was 70/30 compared to pure silk fibroin or sodium alginate coatings. Meanwhile, the corrosion rate of the coated Mg−Zn−Ca alloy was significantly delayed with the addition of sodium alginate, resulting in a reaction layer during corrosion process. Furthermore, the mechanisms for both adhesion and corrosion processes were discussed in detail. Our findings offer more possibilities for the controllable surface performance of degradable metals.