Fabrication of porous surface by liquid-assisted laser ablation for enhancing hydroxyapatite deposition in zirconia

To enhance hydroxyapatite (HA) deposition in zirconia, this paper presented the fabrication of porous surfaces using liquid-assisted laser ablation (LALA). To investigate the properties of porous surfaces fabricated by LALA, the structural features, mechanical properties and optical characteristics of porous surfaces were analyzed at different laser energies to identify the conditions that produced the porous surface with optimal comprehensive performance. The results of SEM revealed that flat porous surfaces without micro-ridge could be produced at pulse energies exceeding 80 μJ. Compared to the untreated sample, the hardness of the porous surface increased by up to 5.07 %. Additionally, the brightness of the porous surface was reduced, while the red-green and yellow-blue chroma were enhanced. Moreover, the hydrophilicity of porous surface significantly improved. Finally, the biomimetic deposition tests of HA in vitro were conducted to evaluate the biocompatibility of porous surface. The results indicated that the biocompatibility of the porous surface was higher than that of the untreated samples according to the investigation of morphology of HA deposition, the Ca/P ratio and added weight. The biocompatibility can be enhanced by employing LALA to produce porous surface in zirconia.