Surface characteristics and protein adsorption on combinatorial binary Ti-M (Cr, Al, Ni) and Al-M (Ta, Zr) library films

Systematic studies of protein adsorption onto metallic biomaterial surfaces are generally lacking. Here, combinatorial binary library films with compositional gradients of Ti1-xCrx, Ti1-xAlx, Ti1-xNix and Al1-xTax, (0 electron microprobe, with TiO2 and Al2O3 preferentially forming on the binary film surfaces. Correspondingly, protein adsorption onto these films closely correlated with their surface oxide fractions. Aluminum deposited as either a constant-composition film or as part of a binary library consistently adsorbed the least amount of albumin and fibrinogen, with alumina-enrichment of the surface oxide correlating with this adsorption. Overall, this combinatorial materials approach coupled with high-throughput surface analytical methods provides an efficient method of screening potential metallic biomaterials that may enable as well systematic studies of surface properties driving protein adsorption on these metal / metal oxide systems. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res, 2010