Biocompatibility and wear resistance are the outstanding properties of hydrogenated diamond like carbon (a-C:H), making it a very suitable material for medical applications, especially as a coating for joint replacing implants. In addition, the demand for antimicrobial features of such coatings is becoming more and more pronounced. One possibility is the introduction of silver particles, which has already been used for a variety of polymer based products.

A large variety of PVD/CVD methods has already been used to deposit metal containing DLC. In contrast to these we follow an alternative hybrid synthesis route based on the ion induced transformation of silver–polymer nanocomposites into Ag containing a-C:H. Starting with the deposition of a nanocomposite of colloidal metal and a polymer by wet chemistry we later on transfer this polymer layer into DLC by ion irradiation. For the irradiation both conventional ion implantation and plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) have been used. Ion beam analysis and Raman spectroscopy have been used to investigate the composition and bonding structure of the hydrogenated DLC matrix while particle size and distribution of the Ag nanoparticles have been analyzed with TEM.

The results of these investigations as well as the antibacterial properties, as measured by in-vitro adhesion assays with Streptococcus sanguinis will be presented.

Florian P Schwarz, Universität Augsburg, Germany
Ralf Kmeth, Universität Augsburg, Germany
Irmgard Hauser-Gerspach, Universitätskliniken für Zahnmedizin Basel, Switzerland
Bernd Stritzker*, Universität Augsburg, Germany

*presenting author