Nanopores and nanotubes ceramic oxides elaborated on titanium alloy with zirconium by changing anodization potentials

Abstract In the present paper nanoporous and/or nanotubular ceramic oxides structures were formed on TiZr alloy (a material with showing promising implant applications) by anodizing at various potentials (5, 10, 20, 30 and 40 V) followed by an annealing treatment at 500 °C for 3 h. The obtained nanostructures formed as mixture of ZrTiO4, TiO2 and ZrO2 oxides with various dimensions have been identified by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with an energy dispersive module (EDX), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and with by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results indicated that the nanopore size distribution increases from 8 to 22 nm to 11–33 nm at 5 V and 10 V, respectively. For the applied potential in the range of 20–40 V, nanotubes are were formed and with the increase of the applied in potential the inner diameter, outer diameter and wall thickness of the nanotubes were also increasing. The inner diameter sizes are were distributed in the range of 62–96 nm at 20 V, 96–127 nm at 30 V, 116–187 nm at 40 V.The surface analysis indicated the type and phases of the oxide s composition and was completed with wettability and roughness determinations measurements. The superhydrophilic character of all surfaces has been established based on contact angle values. Surface properties and antibacterial behavior have been determined, discussed and correlated with the properties of their the corresponding nanostructures. The highest elaboration applied potential used for synthesis lead to the highest roughness and the highest antibacterial index as well.