Titanium and its alloys are widely used in biomedical applications, for example, for artificial hip, orthopaedic, or dental implants due to their good mechanical properties and biocompatibilitiy. The superior biocompatibility of these materials can be attributed to the high corrosion resistance as well as to the good binding ability to living bone. These materials form a biological apatite layer on their surfaces in body and bind to living bone via the apatite layer. Therefore, the apatite formation on these materials can be an essential step for the binding to bone. To enhance the biocompatibility of titanium alloys, various surface treatments have been proposed.

Recently we have reported the electrochemical formation of nanotube oxide layers on a whole range of valve metals (Al, Zr, Hf, W, Nb, Ta and Ti) in fluoride-containing electrolytes. In particular, the formation of titanium oxide nanotube layers has been extensively examined due to a variety of practical applications of titanium oxides. With specific electrochemical parameters, highly ordered TiO₂ nanotube formation is achieved. Layers formed in HF-containing acidic electrolytes essentially consist of TiO₂ nanotubes with a diameter of approximately 100 nm and a length of 500 nm. The geometry can be modified by tailoring the electrochemical parameters, for eample, anodization in neutral electrolytes containing a small amount of fluoride ions results in thicker TiO₂ nanotube layers (several micrometers).

In the present work, we report the formation of oxide nanotube layers on titanium alloys and the application of anodic titanium oxide nanotube layers as a biological surface treatment.

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1. Photo-Electrochemical Investigation of Self-Organized TiO₂ Nanotubes
2. TiO2 nanotubes: Formation, Properties, Applications
3. Formation of oxide nanotube layers on titanium alloys