Biomimetic microtextured surfaces to improve tribological and antibacterial behaviors of 3Y-TZP ceramics

Surface texturing has been a powerful means to improve the service performance of various engineering materials. 3 mol% yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (3Y-TZP) represents the most-used ceramic oxide in restorative dentistry due to its excellent esthetic effects, good chemical stability, and superior biocompatibility. However, such materials show the limited ability of tribological and antibacterial performance for dental applications. In the present work, a bio-inspired design of textured surfaces was conducted based on the microstructural analysis of butterfly wings, peacock tail feathers, and dolphin skins to improve the service performances of 3Y-TZP ceramics for dental applications. Three types of microtextures, including micro-grids, micro-feathers, and micro-grooves, were fabricated onto the 3Y-TZP ceramics using the laser ablation technique. The effects of different microtextures on the wettability, tribological and antibacterial behaviors of 3Y-TZP ceramics were studied. The results indicate that all the biomimetic microtextures can effectively improve the service performance of 3Y-TZP. Wettability acts as a decisive factor for the tribological and antibacterial performances of textured ceramic surfaces. The bio-inspired microtextured surfaces all show hydrophobic behavior, thus yielding an effective improvement of antibacterial properties for 3Y-TZP. Moreover, the micro-grids inspired by the butterfly wings basically perform the best in tribological and antibacterial tests compared with the other counterparts.