Enhancing Antibacterial Properties and Biocompatibility of Titanium Surfaces through Synergy of Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation and Hydrothermal Process

Plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) is a well-established electrochemical method to modify titanium (Ti) surfaces for various industrial applications, including automobile, aerospace, nuclear, sports, defense, and biomedical industries. However, PEO surfaces, with their subsequent nanostructural modification to achieve enhanced antibacterial properties, osseointegration, and biocompatibility on biomedical implants are barely explored. This study investigates the combined approach of PEO and hydrothermal (HT) processes to introduce a range of nanostructures on PEO-induced porous titania for enhanced antibacterial and improved osseointegration properties. Different fabrication conditions of combined PEO and HT process enabled the fabrication of multidimensional nano-morphologies, such as blades, needles, belts, and grass that exhibit mechano-bactericidal properties with enhanced biocompatibility. Antibacterial performance shows that nanostructures generated using HT on the acidic PEO process have excellent antibacterial activity, destroying 88% of E. coli and ≈99% of S. aureus colonies after 24 h incubation. All these fabricated structures show very high biomineralization ability, as confirmed by simulated body fluid (SBF) tests. This study provides valuable contributions showing the potential of low-cost PEO technology combined with other surface engineering methods for scalable modification and improvements of titanium implants with advanced antibacterial and biointegration properties.