Feasibility of Biological Applications for Zirconium Nitride Powders Synthesized by Gas–Solid Elemental Combination Method

Abstract

ZrN powders were successfully synthesized via a facile, economical and efficient gas–solid elemental combination method. The feasibility of biological applications for the ZrN powders were further studied. Firstly, the physical properties including hardness, density and surface roughness were characterized. These results indicated remarkable physical property of ZrN with the harness, density and surface roughness of 551.6 gf · mm−2, 6.47 g cm−3 and 0.11 μm, respectively. Then the in vitro cytotoxicity was evaluated and the hemolysis activity was also performed in red blood cells (RBCs) of mice to investigate the biocompatibility of ZrN powders. Meanwhile, the potentiodynamic polarization test was carried out in PBS to explore its corrosion resistance. The ZrN powders with remarkable physical property and good biocompatibility were demonstrated to have potential application in the field of bone tissue engineering especially in implants protective coatings.