Fabrication and characterization of silk fibroin coating on APTES pretreated Mg-Zn-Ca alloy

To delay the degradation of magnesium alloys, silk fibroin as a natural organic polymer coating was fabricated on a 3-amino-propyltriethoxysilane (APTES) pretreated Mg-Zn-Ca alloy. APTES pretreatment coated the surface of magnesium alloys with amino groups, which can bond with functional groups in silk fibroin to form a compact coating/substrate interface. The influences of the APTES concentration and drying temperature on the coating adhesion and interface were investigated to explore the optimal parameters in the fabrication process. The nanoporous silk fibroin films completely covered the APTES pretreated Mg-Zn-Ca surface, which reached a thickness of similar to 7 mu m. The chemical states for the coated Mg-Zn-Ca alloy were compared to those of the bare Mg-Zn-Ca alloy and the APTES pretreated Mg-Zn-Ca alloy to illustrate the coating mechanism. During in vitro degradation and electrochemical measurements in simulated body fluid (SBF), the samples with the silk fibroin coating showed remarkably improved corrosion resistance and a slower degradation rate compared to those of the bare samples, suggesting that the silk fibroin coating was an effective protection coating for the substrates and can delay the degradation of magnesium alloys. Moreover, a model for the in vitro degradation was proposed. In vitro cell experiments confirmed the excellent biocompatibility of silk fibroin coated Mg-Zn-Ca structure.