Electrochemical and electrophoretic coatings of medical implants by nanomaterials

The demand for medical implants has rapidly increased over the last decades. These artificial devices should possess various properties such as biointegration and mechanical characteristics comparable to that of the replaced body parts. Nowadays, orthopedic, dental, and cardiovascular implants consist mainly of metal-based materials. However, metals suffer from poor osseointegration, some are not biocompatible, and some are not corrosion-resistant. Therefore, surface modification is necessary to enhance and improve the overall compatibility. Electrodeposition methods such as electrophoretic and electrochemical deposition are facile approaches for forming homogeneous and multifunctional coatings on conductive and complex geometries. Moreover, electrochemistry enables driving the deposition of nanomaterials and introduce biomolecules and polymers, by which various properties such as antibacterial activity, cell proliferation, and biointegration can be added to the implant surface. This review aims at describing the recent studies involving electrodeposition methods for coatings of medical implants by nanomaterials.