Early osteoblastic activity on TiO 2 thin films decorated with flower-like hierarchical Au structures.

Titanium alloys are the most commonly used dental and orthopedic implant materials due to their proven biocompatibility and mechanical properties. The native oxide layer (TiO 2 layer) formed on such Ti-based implants acts as the self-protecting layer against possible ion release. Increasing the oxide layer thickness further on such TiO 2 implants even opens the triggering of the osseointegration process if the oxide layer is having a certain degree of roughness, preferably higher. This work reports a novel photocatalytic patterning of sputter deposited TiO 2 layers with flower-like Au structures to enhance the early osteoblastic activity. The prepared hierarchical Au structures, composed of micro- and nanoscale features on the top, lead to improved number of filopodia formation. This suggest that proposed Au-TiO 2 surface may foster the cell attachment and as well as cell proliferation.