Bone regeneration is a key issue in orthopaedics and trauma, and biomimetic coatings are a versatile way to functionalize the surface of prostheses and implantable devices to make them interact with the surrounding bone-forming cells and foster more rapid regeneration.

Ideal coatings shall have high adhesion to the surface and submicrometric thickness to avoid cracking, and a suitable composition. Our research has demonstrated that Ionized Jet Deposition is a suitable technique to obtain the desired coating characteristics.

In particular, we showed that we can deposit complex materials, which include different calcium phosphates, bone apatite and bioactive glasses, maintaining the target stoichiometry. All coatings are nanostructured and have high surface roughness, and their thickness can be finely tuned by tuning deposition parameters. Crystallinity can be tuned by pre- or post-deposition heating, which also boosts adhesion.
Coatings can be deposited on a variety of substrates that span from titanium alloy prostheses to polymeric substrates (PCL, PLLA, and collagen blends, etc.).

In addition, flat or porous substrates can be coated in a conformal way, without altering their morphology.
Because of these characteristics, as well as the combination of biomimetic composition, high surface roughness and multiscale (nano- to microscale) features, coatings are capable of promoting MSCs' adhesion, proliferation and their differentiation towards an osteogenic lineage.

For these reasons, Ionized Jet Deposition appears as a promising technique for biomimetic coating deposition.