Electrophoretic deposition of silica-hyaluronic acid and titania-hyaluronic acid nanocomposites

Thin films of hyaluronic acid were prepared by anodic electrophoretic deposition (EPD) and the deposition kinetics was studied using quartz crystal microbalance. EPD method has been developed for the fabrication of new ceramic-biopolymer nanocomposites containing silica and titania nanoparticles in the matrix of hyaluronic acid. The deposit thickness was varied in the range of 0-10 mu m. The composition of the deposits can be varied by the variation of silica and titania concentration in the suspensions. The deposits were studied by thermogravimetric analysis, differential thermal analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. The method offers the advantages of room temperature processing of nanocomposite materials for biomedical applications. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.