One of the most important feature of material which can replace or join bones, is bioactivity which consists in the formation of a bonelike apatite layer on its surface in the body environment, or in simulated body fluid (SBF). It is known that some sol-gel coatings like Si-, Nb-, Zr-, Ti- oxides show this property, but the nature of this effect is not quite clear yet. TiO2 sol-gel coatings were obtained by a dip-coating process using titanium (IV) butoxide as a sol precursor. The influence of heat treatment temperature of sol-gel TiO2 coatings on their bioactivity was investigated. The bioactivity of TiO2 coatings was determined as the ability to form a layer of hydroxyapatite on their surfaces by soaking in SBF. The surface morphology and chemical composition of the surfaces of TiO2 coatings were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS), respectively. The bioactivity of TiO2 coatings was correlated with their bond configurations, which were characterised by FTIR. It was found that the bioactivity of sol-gel TiO2 annealed at a temperature 400-700°C was similar and depended on the dehydroxylation of the sol-gel TiO2 structure.

Keywords: Titanium Oxide, Coating, Bioactive Material, Sol-Gel