Electrochemical Coating of Medical Implants

Abstract

Electrochemistry deals with charge transfer across interfaces. It is one of the oldest fields of chemistry dated back to Faraday, yet, its importance to basic research as well as industrial applications cannot be overestimated. One of the first applications of electrochemistry was for coating conducting surfaces with either metals, e.g., electroplating, or by inorganic or organic substances, such as oxides and polymers. The fact that electron transfer is limited to a few nanometers from the interface has long ago been recognized as a means of coating conducting surfaces possessing complex geometry. Coatings ranging from a monoatomic layers, e.g., via under potential deposition, to microns thick have been carried out, which affected the physical and chemical properties of the coated surface. Hence, electrochemically deposited films have been used to inhibit corrosion, accommodate enzymes and biosensors, control optical properties and in numerous others applications. Among the advantages of electrocoating are the fine control of the thickness, the ability to co-deposit simultaneously more than one substance and the fact that deposition occurs exclusively on conducting surfaces, thus enabling to coat patterned structures, such as printed and integrated circuits.

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