Niobium-oxynitride coatings for biomedical applications: Its antibacterial effects and in-vitro cytotoxicity

316L Stainless Steel (SS) has been widely used in many medical applications, such as orthopedic prostheses and cardiovascular implants due to its good mechanical properties and resistance to corrosion. Despite its superior features, SS has bio-functionality problems. In this study, niobium oxynitride coatings were deposited onto 316L SS substrates to improve their biocompatibility using a reactive radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering technique. The nitrogen flow was fixed, and the nitrogen to oxygen flow ratio was set to 2, 5 and 10 to investigate the effect of oxygen concentration on biocompatibility and the antibacterial behavior of the oxynitride films. The microstructure, morphology and wettability properties of the coatings were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and an optical tensiometer. The antibacterial activities of coated and uncoated 316L substrates were tested against S. aureus and E. coli bacterial strains. The cytotoxic effects of NbOxNy-coated and uncoated substrates were evaluated on human fibroblast cells. The results showed that niobium oxynitride coatings were not cytotoxic and exhibited more antibacterial activity in comparison to the uncoated ones.