HePulse 885534J3

HePulse 885534J3 Dataset - A New Design of Precision Silver Doped Diamond-Like Carbon Coating with Superior Bio-Mechanical Performance: Silver (Ag) doped diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings are in high demand for biomedical applications. However, excess Ag doping in typical Ag/DLC coatings reduces mechanical performance and poses cytotoxicity to human cells. In this work a new Ag/DLC coating model is proposed with precise doping of Ag in a DLC matrix in the form of isolated nanoparticles embedded at controlled depths. The new version of Ag/DLC is designed to perform robust antimicrobial action in the early post-surgery stages, while a confined Ag amount maintains the excellent mechanical and biocompatibility performance of the underlying DLC coating when compared to typical Ag/DLC designs. Pure DLC without Ag, typically made Ag/DLC having 17 at. % Ag doped throughout the DLC matrix and new Ag/DLC coatings with 2 at. % precise Ag doping, are made with a modified magnetron sputtering system with control over the deposition process. The coatings are characterised for structural, mechanical, ion leaching, and cytotoxicity profiles against L929 fibroblast cells. The typical and new Ag/DLC coatings have similar ion release rates of ~ 0.6 ppm and the new design outperforms the typical Ag/DLC with 63% higher hardness, 100% higher Young’s modulus, and 21% higher biocompatibility. This enhanced biomechanical performance of the proposed new Ag/DLC design could have significant potential for coating of load-carrying medical devices.