Diamond biocompatible coatings for medical implants

New carbon (diamond-like) nanocomposite coatings deposited from a C60 ionic beam can be used as a wear-resistant protective coating for implants. It was found that these coatings enhance resistance to тelectrochemical corrosion processes due to a shift of the material’s electrode potential to a zone of positive values. They also promote a complex of reparative, adaptative and compensatory reorganization that accelerates the healing processes in the vicinity of the implant

Stimulation of calcium phosphate crystal formation by implant surfaces with electret properties

Oxide coatings with electret properties are investigated. The possibility of stimulation of the formation of calcium phosphate sediments near the electroactive surface is discussed. The exposure of implants with such coatings to solutions imitating blood plasma showed their high efficiency of biointegration due to activation of an exchange processes in living tissues by a negative superficial charge. The revealed effect amplifies with the growth of the thickness of the anodic oxide film

Features of medical implant passivation using anodic oxide films

The passivation ability of metals from groups IV and V of the Periodic Table is considered. Anodic treatment is able to neutralize the increase of metal hardening when comminuting grains to nanometre sizes. The deposition of metal oxide film coatings on a cobalt–chromium alloy surface results in substantial passivation of its surface and prevents cobalt and chromium accumulation in bone tissues. The decrease of surface activity of titanium implants can be achieved both by cleaning the surface during vacuum annealing before oxidation and by the increase of the anodic oxide film thickness, which limits mass and charge transfer through the implant surface. Recommended titanium implant treatment regimens are vacuum annealing at 650 °C and anodic oxidation to attain an oxide thickness less or equal to 300 nm

Properties of magnetron hydroxyapatite coatings deposited on oxidized substrates

Hydroxyapatite (HA) coating were formed on oxidized niobium surfaces by the highfrequency magnetron sputtering method using hydroxyapatite and tricalcium phosphate targets. The structure, substructure and mechanical properties of the Nb–Nb2O5–HA system were investigated by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and nanoindentation and the stress state was assessed. The synthesized hydroxyapatite film had the following characteristics: thermal expansion coefficient 10–5 K–1; modulus of elasticity 120 GPa; adhesive strength not less than 0.45 kg/mm2; density 2900 kg/m3. The stress magnitude in the metal oxide substrate was from 11 to 14 MPa after hydroxyapatite film deposition

Theoretical prediction of perfect spin filtering at interfaces between close-packed surfaces of Ni or Co and graphite or graphene

The in-plane lattice constants of close-packed planes of fcc and hcp Ni and Co match that of graphite almost perfectly so that they share a common two dimensional reciprocal space. Their electronic structures are such that they overlap in this reciprocal space for one spin direction only allowing us to predict perfect spin filtering for interfaces between graphite and (111) fcc or (0001) hcp Ni or Co. First-principles calculations of the scattering matrix show that the spin filtering is quite insensitive to amounts of interface roughness and disorder which drastically influence the spin-filtering properties of conventional magnetic tunnel junctions or interfaces between transition metals and semiconductors. When a single graphene sheet is adsorbed on these open $d$-shell transition metal surfaces, its characteristic electronic structure, with topological singularities at the K points in the two dimensional Brillouin zone, is destroyed by the chemical bonding. Because graphene bonds only weakly to Cu which has no states at the Fermi energy at the K point for either spin, the electronic structure of graphene can be restored by dusting Ni or Co with one or a few monolayers of Cu while still preserving the ideal spin injection property.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figure

Multiple-charge transfer and trapping in DNA dimers

We investigate the charge transfer characteristics of one and two excess charges in a DNA base-pair dimer using a model Hamiltonian approach. The electron part comprises diagonal and off-diagonal Coulomb matrix elements such a correlated hopping and the bond-bond interaction, which were recently calculated by Starikov [E. B. Starikov, Phil. Mag. Lett. {\bf 83}, 699 (2003)] for different DNA dimers. The electronic degrees of freedom are coupled to an ohmic or a super-ohmic bath serving as dissipative environment. We employ the numerical renormalization group method in the nuclear tunneling regime and compare the results to Marcus theory for the thermal activation regime. For realistic parameters, the rate that at least one charge is transferred from the donor to the acceptor in the subspace of two excess electrons significantly exceeds the rate in the single charge sector. Moreover, the dynamics is strongly influenced by the Coulomb matrix elements. We find sequential and pair transfer as well as a regime where both charges remain self-trapped. The transfer rate reaches its maximum when the difference of the on-site and inter-site Coulomb matrix element is equal to the reorganization energy which is the case in a GC-GC dimer. Charge transfer is completely suppressed for two excess electrons in AT-AT in an ohmic bath and replaced by damped coherent electron-pair oscillations in a super-ohmic bath. A finite bond-bond interaction $W$ alters the transfer rate: it increases as function of $W$ when the effective Coulomb repulsion exceeds the reorganization energy (inverted regime) and decreases for smaller Coulomb repulsion

Graphite and graphene as perfect spin filters

Based upon the observations (i) that their in-plane lattice constants match almost perfectly and (ii) that their electronic structures overlap in reciprocal space for one spin direction only, we predict perfect spin filtering for interfaces between graphite and (111) fcc or (0001) hcp Ni or Co. The spin filtering is quite insensitive to roughness and disorder. The formation of a chemical bond between graphite and the open $d$-shell transition metals that might complicate or even prevent spin injection into a single graphene sheet can be simply prevented by dusting Ni or Co with one or a few monolayers of Cu while still preserving the ideal spin injection property

A New Multiscale Approach to Nuclear Fuel Simulations: Atomistic Validation of Kinetic Method

A key issue for fuel behavior codes is their sensitivity to values of various materials properties, many of which have large uncertainties or have not been measured. Kinetic mesoscale models, such as those developed at Argonne National Laboratory within the past decade, are directly comparable to data obtained from in-reactor experiments. In the present paper, a new multiscale concept is proposed that consists of using atomistic simulation methods to verify the kinetic approach. The new concept includes kinetic rate-equations for radiation damage, energetics and kinetics of defects, and gas/defect-driven swelling of fuels as a function of temperature and burnup. The quantum and classical atomistic simulation methods are applied to increase our understanding of radiation damage and defect formation and growth processes and to calculate the probabilities of elemental processes and reactions that are applicable to irradiated nuclear materials

Anti-corrosion ceramic coatings on the surface of Nd-Fe-B repelling magnets

The results of vacuum-arc deposition of thin ZrO₂coatings to protect the surface of Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets used as repelling devices in orthodontics are presented. The structure, phase composition and mechanical properties of zirconium dioxide films have been investigated by means of SEM, XRD, EDX, XRF and nanoindentation method. It was revealed the formation of polycrystalline ZrO₂ films of monoclinic modification with average grain size 25 nm. The influence of the ZrO₂ coating in terms of its barrier properties for corrosion in quasi-physiological 0.9 NaCl solution has been studied. Electrochemical measurements indicated good barrier properties of the coating on specimens in the physiological solution environment