Self-assembled monolayer of alkanephosphoric acid on nanotextured Ti.

Surface modification of titanium and its alloys is of great importance for their practical application as biomedical implants. We have studied and compared assembly of dodecylphosphoric acid on commercial polished and on nanostructured titanium disks. The latter were produced by chemical etching that created nanoscale pits of typical size of about 20 nm. Enhanced hydrophobicity and high molecular density were obtained after functionalization of the nanotextured substrate. Aging tests showed a lifetime of the organic films of about one month in phosphate buffer. The samples were characterized by means of infrared spectroscopy, contact angle measurements, ellipsometry, and atomic force and scanning tunneling microscopies.