The influence of nitrogen ion implantation on the microstructure and chemical composition of a thin layer on the biodegradable Zn-0.8Mg-0.2Sr substrate

In this research, the influence of the N + ion implantation process on the microstructure of a biodegradable Zn-0.8Mg-0.2Sr alloy was investigated using various experimental techniques. Microscopic analysis revealed that a fluence of 17·10 17 ions/cm² resulted in the oversaturation of pure Zn and Mg 2 Zn 11 surfaces, leading to the formation of nano/micro-porous layers up to 400 nm thick. The behavior of the Zn-0.8Mg-0.2Sr alloy was observed to be similar to that of the individual pure phases, albeit without the creation of open pore structures. A limited formation of MgO and Mg 3 N 2 was observed on the alloy surface, although the overall surface presence of Mg significantly increased from 0.8 to 15 wt. %. This increase was caused by the decomposition of the Mg 2 Zn 11 phase during the process and the subsequent diffusion of Mg toward the surface. The absence of Zn 3 N 2 within the samples could be explained by the thermodynamic instability and low Zn-N affinity. Despite the absence of zinc nitride, GD-OES confirmed 10 at. % of nitrogen in the pure zinc, suggesting a possible accommodation of N atoms in the interstitial positions. This study points to the complex nature of the process and highlights other promising directions for future research.

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Publication Details

Journal
Surfaces and Interfaces
Published
2025-04-23
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfin.2025.106544
Primary Topic
Bone Tissue Engineering Materials
Type
article
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article

The influence of nitrogen ion implantation on the microstructure and chemical composition of a thin layer on the biodegradable Zn-0.8Mg-0.2Sr substrate

Marek Vronka, Vojtěch Smola, Tomáš Studecký, Kateřina Šindelářová et al.
Surfaces and Interfaces
Bone Tissue Engineering Materials
article

The influence of nitrogen ion implantation on the microstructure and chemical composition of a thin layer on the biodegradable Zn-0.8Mg-0.2Sr substrate

Marek Vronka, Vojtěch Smola, Tomáš Studecký, Kateřina Šindelářová, Orsolya Molnárová, Vilém Bartůněk, Jan Pinc, M. Lebeda, Petr Svora, Andrea Školáková, Zdeněk Weiss, Jiří Kubásek, Jaroslav Fojt, Jaroslav Čapek, Petr Vlčák, Pavel Salvetr, Jan Drahokoupil, Hana Lesáková, T. Horažďovský
article en

Abstract

In this research, the influence of the N + ion implantation process on the microstructure of a biodegradable Zn-0.8Mg-0.2Sr alloy was investigated using various experimental techniques. Microscopic analysis revealed that a fluence of 17·10 17 ions/cm² resulted in the oversaturation of pure Zn and Mg 2 Zn 11 surfaces, leading to the formation of nano/micro-porous layers up to 400 nm thick. The behavior of the Zn-0.8Mg-0.2Sr alloy was observed to be similar to that of the individual pure phases, albeit without the creation of open pore structures. A limited formation of MgO and Mg 3 N 2 was observed on the alloy surface, although the overall surface presence of Mg significantly increased from 0.8 to 15 wt. %. This increase was caused by the decomposition of the Mg 2 Zn 11 phase during the process and the subsequent diffusion of Mg toward the surface. The absence of Zn 3 N 2 within the samples could be explained by the thermodynamic instability and low Zn-N affinity. Despite the absence of zinc nitride, GD-OES confirmed 10 at. % of nitrogen in the pure zinc, suggesting a possible accommodation of N atoms in the interstitial positions. This study points to the complex nature of the process and highlights other promising directions for future research.

Surfaces and InterfacesVol. 65
Czech Academy of Sciences (CZ), Comtes Fht (Czechia) (CZ), Institute of Physics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK), Czech Technical University in Prague (CZ), University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague (CZ)
Openalex Percentile: Top 92%
Bone Tissue Engineering Materials
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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