Dear Colleagues,

Since 1965, when Prof. Per-Ingvar Brånemark in Sweden put a first dental Ti implant into a volunteer, a vast human population has received medical treatments using materials and devices for internal fixation. One to five out of every hundred people surrounding us carry either a dental or an orthopedic implant. Unfortunately, 5% to 20% of the cases need a revision surgery because of various complications, including those induced by a foreign body reaction. Developing new biomedical materials and coatings is highly driven by the demands of this immense market, which has already reached 4 Billion USD worldwide for dental implants only, and which continues to grow with at least 5% CAGR.

New biomedical devices must be strong, smart, and friendly. Current advances in nanotechnologies offer a wide range of nanostructured materials and coatings showing higher strength and better short-term bioactivity and long-term biocompatibility than the previous generation of medical devices. For example, titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V, being the most widely used for implant applications due to its high strength and bioinertness, carries 6% of aluminum proven to promote Alzheimer’s disease under long exposure. Its nanostructured alternative—commercially pure titanium—reaches the same and even higher strength. Moreover, nano-Ti does not carry unwanted alloying elements; therefore, stronger, smaller and safer implants are already being produced using this material. Numerous varieties of the surface treatments and coatings, both of inorganic and organic nature, help to fine tune the human body reaction to the device implantation. For example, titanium orthopedic joint replacement implants must have an osteoconductive coating in the area of the contact with the bone. By contrast, titanium plates used in traumatology should not osseointegrate, leaving the possibility to remove them after the fracture heals; therefore, this device should have a nonfouling coating. The coatings open up possibilities not only to produce different device types, but also to personalize the device itself, for example, through slow release of a drug prescribed to the person.

This Special Issue welcomes papers concerned with new bulk nanostructured metals and alloys obtained via severe plastic deformation (SPD) for biomedical applications. Nanostructuring of metallic materials by various SPD techniques comprises grain refinement of the microstructure down to a submicron or nanosized range, as well as the formation of nanoclusters and nanoprecipitates of a secondary phase, which essentially influences the mechanical and functional properties of the materials. With regard to medical applications, the creation of nanostructures in metals and alloys by SPD processing has been shown to improve mechanical, corrosion, and biomedical properties. Moreover, this Special Issue welcomes papers devoted to the surface modification of bulk nanomaterials and coatings, including nanostructured, nanolayer, nanoporous, nanoparticle-containing coatings obtained by anodizing, plasma electrolytic oxidation, physical and chemical vapor deposition, atomic layer deposition, and other techniques. Surface modification plays the most important role, creating the interface to the human body and improving the design and biocompatibility of the devices.

We believe that the cutting-edge research performed in this area and published in this Special Issue will contribute to the mass production of medical devices which will increase life expectancy and life quality in our society.

Therefore, the area of interest of this Special Issue Biomedical Nanostructured Materials and Coatings includes but is not limited to the following topics:

1. Bulk nanostructured metallic materials for implant applications;
2. Biodegradable nanostructured materials for temporary implants;
3. Nanoporous coatings for biomedical applications;
4. Multilayer nanostructured coatings for medical implants;
5. Coatings with bioactive nanoparticles;
6. Biomimetic materials and coatings;
7. Interaction of coatings and nanostructured substrate as insights into the better biocompatibility.

Prof. Dr. Evgeny V. Parfenov
Prof. Dr. Ruslan Z. Valiev
Guest Editors

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• Bulk nanostructured metallic biomaterials
• Nanostructured coatings
• Metal implants
• Biocompatible metal materials
• Bioactive coatings