Antibacterial properties of ZnO-containing bioactive glass coatings for biomedical applications

The main objective of this investigation was to study antibacterial properties of ZnO-containing bioactive glass coatings applied on AISI 316L stainless steel substrate for biomedical applications. The coating was applied by electrophoretic deposition technique. The chemical, structural and morphological properties of the coating was investigated using electron microscopes and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Deposited ZnO-containing bioactive glass coating showed promising antibacterial responses against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538) and Escherichia coli (ATCC 8739). The correlation between the structure and antibacterial performance of deposited samples as well as the antibacterial mechanisms are discussed.