This paper aimed to investigate the structure and physicochemical and tribological properties of ZnO coatings deposited by ALD on 316L stainless steel for biomedical applications. To obtain ZnO films, diethylzinc (DEZ) and water were used as ALD precursors. Zinc oxide layers were deposited at the same temperature of 200 °C using three types of ALD cycles: 500, 1000 and 1500. The structure and morphology of ZnO coatings were examined using SEM and AFM microscopes. The XRD and GIXRD methods were used for the phase analysis of the obtained coatings. To determine the resistance to pitting corrosion, potentiodynamic investigations and impedance spectroscopy were conducted in a Ringer solution at a temperature of 37 °C. The obtained results showed that the number of ALD cycles had a significant impact on the structure, morphology and corrosion resistance of the ZnO layers. It was found that after increasing the coating thickness of the ZnO on the material, its electrochemical properties determining the corrosion resistance also increased. Moreover, on the basis of the ball-on-plate tribological investigations, we found a significant reduction in the friction coefficient of the samples with the investigated coatings in relation to the noncoated substrates.
Keywords: 316L stainless steel; ALD; ZnO; atomic layer deposition; corrosion resistance; mechanical properties; nanostructured; zinc oxide.