Description
Diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings are well-established for biomedical applications due to their high hardness and Young’s modulus, high resistance against wear, low friction coefficients, superior biocompatibility, chemical inertness, and oxidation and corrosion resistance. Therefore, DLC coatings are widely used for load-carrying and non-load-carrying invasive and orifice medical implants and surgical devices. Hip and knee joints are representative examples of load-carrying implants while DLC coatings are also used for non-load-barring invasive medical implants such as heart valves, heart diaphragms, stents, catheters, dental implants, and intraocular lenses due to superior biocompatibility. DLC coatings have sufficient antimicrobial performance, which is further boosted with the addition of silver nanoparticles to extend its coverage beyond antimicrobial actions, such as genotoxicity, hemocompatibility, bacterial and tumour growth inhibitions etc. Typically, the addition of silver reduces the overall mechanical performance of DLC coatings and also poses the risk of cytotoxicity. The Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Laboratory, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh is innovating new microstructural designs and tailored manufacturing methods to deposit next-generation silver-doped DLC coatings. Only the essentially required amount of silver is selectively doped in a carbon matrix in the form of small nanoparticles, which assures better mechanical properties and biocompatibility. The developed coatings need only 12% silver of typical design to deliver the same or better bio-mechanical performance.| Period | 2 Sept 2023 |
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| Event title | The 6th China-ASEAN Medical Education Forum : Strategic Development on Pharmaceutical Analysis |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Guizhou, ChinaShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |