Study of antibacterial, hydrophilic and nanomechanical properties of TiOX films modified by Ag+ beam implantation

TiOx thin films were deposited on glass substrates by electron-beam evaporation system using TiO2 as a source material. Silver ions were implanted with metal vapor vacuum arc implanter at 40 kV. The dose of implanted ions was chosen as 1 × 1015, 3 × 1015, 6 × 1015, 9 × 1015 and 1 × 1016 ions/cm2. The antibacterial property of Ag-TiOx films was tested using E. coli removal under UV light exposure, and E. coli concentration was evaluated by plating technique. The hydrophilic property was performed by water contact angle with contact angle meter. A nano-indentation instrument was used for nanomechanical tests. XPS was chosen to characterize the modified films. The results showed that the antibacterial, hydrophilic and nanomechanical properties of Ag–TiOx films were improved. The dose of implanted ions for the film with best antibacterial and hydrophilic abilities was 9 × 1015 ions/cm2. The hardness and modulus of the films increased as the dose of implanted ions increased.