Nanostructured stainless steel surfaces by PBII

Nanoporous SS

 

 

Human blood vessels sometimes become occluded or weakened. For example, the vessels can be occluded by a tumour, covered with a plaque, or weakened by an aneurysm. Such a vessel can be either reopened, reinforced, or even replaced with a medical endoprosthesis (stents or stent-grafts). For bare metal stents the in-stent restenosis was a serious problem for a number of patients. This spurred the medical device companies to search for an effective way of preventing restenosis. In late 1990’s the first drug eluting stents (DES) were developed as a solution to the problem.

A multilayer pore system on a metal stent’s surface may serve as a platform for the next generation of metal-based drug-eluting stents.

Advantages of the multilayer pore structure:

  • Enables storage of therapeutic agents or drugs
  • Possesses high biocompatibility
  • Provides a basis for other coatings or bio-layers

Nanoporous SS 2

Nanoporous SS 4

SEM image of PBII-processed metal surface showing islets and hillocks whose formation depends strongly on implantation temperature. Increasing ion fluence produces a porous layer in addition to the islet/hillock features.

Projects:

"Nanoporous" (Industry)