Enhancing Implantable Medical Devices: Surface Functionalization of Titanium with Quaternary Ammonium Salts for Antibacterial Adhesion Properties

Abstract

Bacterial colonization of titanium-based materials used in implantable medical devices represents a significant challenge in the dental and orthopedic fields, often leading to infections and implant failure. This study reports the surface modification of titanium discs with ammonium salts containing carbon atom chains of different lengths (from 6 to 12) to provide antibacterial properties to the modified metal surfaces while maintaining their biocompatibility. The chemically modified samples have been characterized by ATR-FTIR and SEM-EDX analyses and evaluated for roughness and hydrophilic behavior. This surface modification not only provides hydrophobic properties to titanium surfaces but also introduces a hindering environment for bacterial adhesion. Antibacterial tests performed against methicillin-sensitive and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains demonstrated a proportional increase in antibacterial activity with increasing carbon chain length. The best antibacterial performance is reported for the sample containing 12 carbon atoms (Ti-ADTEAB), which showed inhibition values of 87.5 and 86.6% for the sensitive and resistant strains, respectively. The results suggest that this surface modification could lead to a new generation of implantable medical devices with improved patient outcomes by reducing the risk of postoperative infections.