Cytotoxic and Bacteriostatic Activity of Nanostructured TiO2 Coatings

Nanostructures are structures, mainly synthetic (nanosurfaces, cylindrical nanotubes, and nanospheres), which range between 1–100 nm in at least one dimension and can be engineered to a wide range of physical properties. This paper aims to explore the bacteriostatic and cytotoxic characteristics of nano-TiO2 coated specimens of glass, stainless steel and ceramic with different thickness and roughness. The results show that stainless steel and glass specimens with a nano-TiO2 coating thickness of 200 nm have a bacteriostatic effect of 97% and 100%, respectively after 30 minutes of UV exposure. Glass specimens with a nano-TiO2 coating thickness of 750, 200 and 50 nm have a bacteriostatic effect of 86%, 93% and 100% after 60 minutes. Nano-TiO2 coatings show a great bacteriostatic but not a cytotoxic effect, thus representing a valuable alternative for biomedical applications.