Al2O3/ZnO Multilayer Coatings for Improvement in Functional Properties of Surgical Scalpel Blades

This work aimed to investigate the structure and corrosion resistance of Al2O3/ZnO multilayer coatings deposited by ALD on the standard surgical scalpel blades made of carbon steel. The surface topography of the coatings was examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), revealing the significant effect of the number of deposited Al2O3/ZnO bilayers on the morphology of the multilayer coatings. The XRD method was used for the phase analysis, allowing to confirm the presence of ZnO and ZnAl2O4 phases. The presence of the ZnAl2O4 structure was also confirmed using a Raman spectrometer. A qualitative analysis of the chemical composition of the obtained coatings was performed using the energy dispersive spectrometry (EDX) method. In order to determine the corrosion resistance, potentiodynamic tests were performed using Ringer’s solution at a temperature of 37 °C. The beneficial effect of increasing the number of deposited Al2O3/ZnO bilayers on the corrosion resistance was confirmed, with the lowest corrosion current density value of 2.05 μA/cm2 and the highest polarization resistance of 12.15 kΩ obtained in the case of the N72 coating.