Single-walled carbon nanotubes/hydroxyapatite coatings on titanium obtained by electrochemical deposition

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • The incorporation of SWNTs into the HA coating leaded to the formation of homogeneous and crack-free composite coatings. • The highest bonding strength was detected for the SWNTs/HA-0.5 composite coating (25.70 MPa). • The SWNTs/HA composite coatings induced better cell proliferation, cell viability and ALP activity compared to pure HA coating and pure Ti. • The results suggested that SWNTs/HA-0.5 and SWNTs/HA-1.0 composite coating prepared in this work is acceptable in terms of mechanical property and in-vitro bioactivity. - Abstract: Single-walled carbon nanotubes/hydroxyapatite (SWNTs/HA) composite coatings were successfully fabricated by electrochemical deposition technique. Different concentrations of SWNTs were incorporated into the apatite coating by adding functionalized SWNTs into the electrolyte. Homogeneous and crack-free SWNTs/HA composite coatings were achieved and the coatings had higher crystallinity compared to pure HA coating. In addition, the highest bonding strength of the SWNTs/HA coating reached 25.7 MPa, which was nearly 70% higher than that of pure HA coating. The in-vitro cellular biocompatibility tests revealed that SWNTs/HA composite coatings exhibited higher in-vitro bioactivity than that of pure HA coating and pure titanium (Ti). It suggests that SWNTs/HA composite coating may have enormous potential applications in the field of biomaterials, especially for the metal implants