Amino acid conjugated self assembling molecules for enhancing surface wettability of fiber laser treated titanium surfaces

Surface wetting properties of implants are one of the most critical parameter, which determine the interaction of proteins and cells with the implant surface. In this regards, acid etching and sand blasting are the mostly used methods at surface modification of Titanium (Ti) for enhanced surface wettability. Besides, these kinds of modifications may cause a conflict whether the surface wettability is influenced by the process related surface contaminations or by the surface roughness. In contrast, lasers might be an option for the alteration of surface wetting properties via supporting micro and/or nano surface topographies while preventing surface chemical contaminations. In this work, we focused on two steps of surface processing approaches of Ti surface: physical and chemical modifications. Herein, we hierarchically structured Ti surfaces by using microsecond modulated pulsed fiber laser. Subsequently, laser structured and non-structured Ti surfaces were further modified with novel histidine and leucine Amino Acid conjugated Self-Assembled Molecules (His1-SAMs2 and Leu3-SAMs) to alter the surface wettability by introducing biologically hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups. Modification of Ti surfaces with His-SAMs and Leu-SAMs ended up with stable wetting properties when compared to non-modified surfaces after 7 days which may enhances the cell–surface interaction.