Nanocoatings research

Dental implants and prosthetics alone account for a substantial proportion of the dental industry. It is therefore of no surprise that researchers focus heavily on this avenue. In contrast to other industries, dental industry nanocoatings do not perpetually involve the deposition of thin nanolayers onto a substrate. Often they can refer to the incorporation of nanostructured materials or particles into coatings on contact surfaces. For instance, a recent piece of work examined the usage of nanostructured hydroxyapatite (HA) as a filler material for root canal. HA (a commonly used material in coating implants to aid cell proliferation) particles sized at approximately 26 mn were incorporated into root canal sealer at variable ratios. At high concentrations, there was little difference in film thickness (implying they would meet ISO standards for root canal sealers). The observed improvements suggested that nanostructured HA could be used to formulate more stable tooth material interfaces [40]. 

Strydom et al. [66] developed nanocoated cellulose used in the manufacture of tablets via direct compression. The research demonstrated that by coating cellulose microfibers with nanolayers of polyvinylpyrrolidone and poly(styrenesulfonate), the compaction properties of cellulose were dramatically improved without retarding the drug dissolution. Additional clear advantages were demonstrated, such as minimal weight gain of less than 1% as well as greater control over the surface properties of the fibers. 

Current research into reactive atmospheric plasma techniques for the nanocoating of textile substrates includes a new atmospheric CoatingStar [16] technology for the appHcation of microcapsules [17] in aerosol form. Atmospheric plasma treatments represent an alternative to the (post) treatment of textiles. A schematic representation of the reactive plasma system is illustrated in Figure 7.10. 

Choi, A.H., Ben-Nissan, B., 2007. Sol—gel production of bioactive nanocoatings for medical applications. Part II current research and development. Nanomedicine 2, 51—61. 

Jiang, B., Li, B. (2009). Polypeptide nanocoatings for preventing dental and orthopaedic device-associated infection pH-induced antibiotic capture, release, and antibiotic efficacy. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B Applied Biomaterials, 88B(2), 332-338. 

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