Fabrication of a TiO2@Cu Core–Shell Nanorod Array as Coating for Titanium Substrate with Mechanical and Chemical Dual Antibacterial Property

Titanium (Ti) is an excellent medical metal material, but the absence of good antibacterial property restricts its widespread application. To overcome this, we thus conducted a series of modifications for Ti. First, a titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanorod array was generated on the Ti surface by hydrothermal treatment (TiO2/Ti). With the polymer-mediated self-assembly method, a continuous copper (Cu) shell structure on the surface of the nanorod was then generated to form a TiO2@Cu core–shell nanorod array as coating for Ti (TiO2@Cu/Ti). Using pure Ti as the control group, the antibacterial properties of TiO2/Ti and TiO2@Cu/Ti were appraised. The results manifested that the mechanical and chemical dual function of the released Cu2+ and TiO2 nanorod array could effectively kill bacteria on the surface of Ti. Besides, the obtained coating exhibited no cytotoxicity and favorable biocompatibility. In this work, we found an antibacterial strategy based on multiple sterilization pathways, which made Ti have good antibacterial property and further improved its biocompatibility.