Enhanced Biolubrication on Biomedical Devices using Hyaluronic Acid-Silica Nanohybrid Hydrogels

Abstract In this work, highly lubricous hyaluronic acid-silica (HA-SiO2) nanohybrid coatings were fabricated through a sequential process consisting of a sol-gel followed by electrophoretic deposition (EPD). SiO2 nanoparticles were uniformly distributed in the coating layers, and the coating thickness was identified as approximately 1-2 μm regardless of the amount of SiO2. Incorporation of SiO2 into the HA polymer matrix enhanced the mechanical stability of the nanohybrid coatings, indicating greater interfacial bonding strength compared to HA coating layers alone. In addition, due to improved stability, the nanohybrid coatings showed excellent biolubrication properties, which were evaluated with a tribological experiment. These results indicate that the nanohybrid coatings have great potential to be used in biomedical applications that require superior biolubrication properties.