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Enhanced antibacterial and corrosion resistance performance of fluorine-doped diamond-like carbon coatings on 316 L stainless steel

MetadataDetails
Publication Date2025-04-03
JournalColloids and Surfaces B Biointerfaces
AuthorsYimeng Wang, Temitope Olumide Olugbade, Stefan Wackerow, Yongwei Cai, Shuai Zhang
InstitutionsUniversity of Dundee, Queen’s University Belfast
Citations1

Biomedical materials must meet increasingly stringent standards for antibacterial efficacy and corrosion resistance. This study investigates the enhancement of these properties in 316 L stainless steel through the application of fluorine-doped diamond-like carbon (F-DLC) coatings. A series of F-DLC coatings with varying fluorine (F) concentrations were fabricated using plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD). Fluorine doping increased the sp<sup>2</sup>/sp<sup>3</sup> ratio (0.65-0.93) and enhanced surface hydrophobicity, as indicated by an increase in the contact angle from 63.1° to 79.7°. The impact of F concentration on bacterial adhesion was investigated using Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). DLC coatings with higher F concentrations and sp<sup>2</sup>/sp<sup>3</sup> ratios exhibited a notable reduction in bacterial adhesion - up to 74 % for E. coli and 77 % for S. aureus - compared to uncoated stainless steel. The extended Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (XDLVO) theory was employed to model bacteria-surface interactions, revealing the role of F in bacterial adhesion behaviour. Furthermore, the F-DLC coatings achieved a significant corrosion inhibition rate of 98.3 % in Hanks’ balanced salt solution at 37 °C. Overall, higher F concentrations in the DLC coatings promote antibacterial and anti-corrosion performance by shifting the carbon structure from a three-dimensional sp<sup>3</sup>-dominated configuration to a two-dimensional sp<sup>2</sup>-rich structure.

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