Induced antibacterial capability of TiO2 coatings in visible light via nitrogen ion implantation

In order to enhance the antibacterial ability of titanium components,an antibacterial coating was fabricated on Ti surface by micro-arc oxidation(MAO)and further nitrogen plasma immersion ion implantation(N-PIII).The XPS spectra demonstrated that nitrogen was incorporated into TiO2 coatings by N-PIII and the nitrogen content on the surface of TiO2 coatings increased as the N-PIII time increased.Nitrogen-incorporated samples exhibited remarkably increased absorbance in the visible region and the light absorption edge of nitrogen-incorporated samples showed a redshift compared to MAO samples.Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were seeded on the samples to assess their antibacterial ability.The bacterial experiment demonstrated that nitrogen-incorporated TiO2 could effectively reduce the bacterial viability in visible light.Thus,the antibacterial TiO2 coatings fabricated by MAO and further N-PIII might have large potential in the medical and marine fields.

Improvement of tribological behavior of a Ti-Al-V alloy by nitrogen ion implantation

The tribological properties especially wear and hardness of a Ti-Al-V alloy with nitrogen implantation (energy 60 keV) were investigated. The implantation was carried out at fluences range from 1×1016 to 4×1017 ions/cm2. Glancing angle X-ray diffraction (GAXRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses were performed to obtain surface characterization of the implanted sample. The unimplanted and implanted samples were also annealed at 600 ℃ in order to understand the influence of annealing on the tribological properties of Ti-Al-V. The hardness shows significant improvement at the higher fluence. After annealing at 600 ℃, the friction coefficient exhibits a relative decrease for the nitrogen-implanted samples. In addition, the wear rates of the implanted samples exhibits a great decrease after annealing at 600 ℃. Nature of the surface and reason for the variation and improvement in wear resistance were discussed in detail.

The Effects of Low-Energy Nitrogen Ion Implantation on Pollen Exine Substructure and Pollen Germination of Cedrus deodara

The aim of this study is to investigate the biological effects of ion beams on pollen. Pollen grains of Cedrus deodara were implanted with 30 keV nitrogen ion beams at doses ranging from 1 × 10^15 ions/cm^2 to 15 × 10^15 ions/cm^2. The effects of N^＋ implantation on the pollen exine substructure were examined using an atomic force microscope （AFM）, and the structure and morphology of pollen and pollen tubes were observed using a laser scanning confocal microscope （LSCM）. AFM observations distinctly revealed the erosion of the pollen exine caused by N^＋ implantation in the micrometer to nanometer range. Typical results showed that the erosion degree was linearly proportional to the ion dose. Pollen germination experiments in vitro indicated that N^＋ implantation within a certain dose range increased the rate of pollen germination. The main abnormal phenomena in pollen tubes were also analyzed. Our results suggest that low energy ion implantation with suitable energy and dosage can be used to break the pollen wall to induce a transfer of exogenous DNA into the pollen without any damage to the cytoplasm and nuclei of the pollen. The present study suggests that a combination of the method of ion-beam-induced gene transfer and the pollen-tube pathway method （PTPW） would be a new plant transformation method.

Influence of Temperature on Nitrogen Ion Implantation of Ti6Al4V Alloy

in order to achieve increased layer thickness, and wearing resistance, enhanced ion implantation with nitrogen has been carried out at temperatures of 100, 200, 400, and 600℃ with a dose of 4x 1018 ions' cm-2. Using the Plasma Source ion Implantation (PSII) device, specimens of Ti6Al4V alloy were implanted at elevated temperatures, using the ion flux as the heating source. Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), micro-hardness measurements and pin-on-disk wearing tester were utilized to evaluate the surface property improvements. The thickness of the implanted layer increased by about an order of magnitude when the temperature was elevated from 100 to 600℃. Higher surface hardness and wearing resistance was also obtained in implantation under higher temperature. XRD image showed the presence of titanium nitrides on the implanted surface.

SURFACE ANALYSES OF NITROGEN ION IMPLANTED Ti6Ai4V ALLOY

The techniques for surface analysis including AES,XPS and SIMS were employed to study the chemical composition and bond valence of nitrogen ion implanted surface of surgical implantation service alloy Ti6Al4V.The depth of implanted nitrogen ions and the sputtering rate of argon beams were determined using a profilometer.It was found that the combination of injected nitrogen ions with titanium resulted in the formation of hard TiN particles and the profile of nitrogen concentration approximately displayed gaussian distribution.The total depth of implanted nitrogen is about 350 nm and its maximum concentration appears in the depth of about 140 nm from the surface,in which the concentration ratio of nitrogen to titanium may be up to 1.1.

Morphological and Anatomical Assessment of KDML 105 (Oryza sativa L.spp.indica) and Its Mutants Induced by Low-Energy Ion Beam

Thai jasmine rice KDML 105 is consumed around the world. BKOS, PKOS and TKOS are new cultivars produced from low-energy ion beam induction in KDML 105. The purpose of this study is to compare the morphology and anatomy between KDML 105 and the three new cultivars. Seeds of the four cultivars were germinated and grown in pots until flowering phase. The plants＇ organs were observed and the lengths of culms, ligules, leaves and panicles were measured. Leaf surface area was calculated and numbers of roots, spikelets and tillers were counted. BKOS and PKOS had significantly shorter culms than KDML 105 and TKOS. The largest leaf area was found in KDML 105 followed by TKOS, BKOS and PKOS, respectively. Numbers of roots and tillers in BKOS and TKOS were significantly fewer than those in KDML 105 and PKOS. The number of spikelets per plant in BKOS was the lowest among all cultivars. For anatomical comparison, cross sections of culms and roots were observed. All plants had a similar arrangement of tissues, but the number and size of cells were different. Furthermore, longitudinal sections of culms showed that the lengths of epidermal and parenchyma cells were directly related with the length of the culm. To compare the leaves, both stomata and epidermal cells were counted and the lengths of the guard cells were measured. The lengths of guard cells of BKOS and PKOS were shorter, but the stomatal density and the stomatal index were significantly greater than those of KDML 105. For TKOS, though the length of guard cells was shorter than that in KDML 105, the difference was not significant. However, the stomatal density and stomatal index were significantly higher than those in KDML 105.

AUGER STUDY OF CARBON LAYER ON ON IMPLANTED STEEL SURFACE

The carbon layers on implanted steel surface have been studied by means of Auger spectra. It is shown that the thickness of the carbon layer is proportional to the dose of implanted ions. By comparison with the results of friction and wear tests, the friction coefficient is smaller than 0.20 at the first part of the friction coefficient curve. It is considered that the graphitic carbon layer on the top of steel is helpful to reducing the surface friction coefficient of steel.