ABSTRACT Ti implant biomaterials exhibit many unique intrinsic physical and chemical properties and have been intensively explored for biomedical applications in the past few years. The first part of this comprehensive review regards electrochemical elaboration of TiO2 nanotubes and the second part is focused on performance characterization of Ti modified electrodes. TiO2 nanotubes were obtained by anodic oxidation in fluoride ion inorganic media and hybrid solutions for nano-architecture type nanotubes. The characterization of Ti modified electrodes involved electrochemical methods such as variation of open circuit potential in time, cyclic polarization and electrochemical impedance as well. These data were explained based on surface analysis as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and contact angle determinations. The roughness profile was in the nanometer range and in this domain the roughness is a key factor in protein adsorption, cell adhesion and proliferation. Surface modified Ti electrodes were also obtained by electropolymerization of conductive polymers as polypyrole, polyethylene glycol (PEG). PEG incorporation in a polypyrole coating is a way to manipulate the hydrophilic character of a film in a super hydrophilic direction. Another aspect discussed in the present paper is a comparison between corrosion rates from electrochemical data and corrosion rates from ions release. The ions release was evaluated from inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) determinations, and the corrosion rates determined via both procedures have very close values.
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