Copper-based coatings are known for their high antibacterial activity. In this study, nanocomposite Cu-Sn-TiO2 coatings were obtained by electrodeposition from an oxalic acid bath additionally containing 4 g/dm3 TiO2 with mechanical and ultrasonic agitation. Ultrasound treatment was performed at 26 kHz frequency and 32 W/dm3 power. The influence of agitation mode and the current load on the inclusion and distribution of the TiO2 phase in the Cu-Sn metallic matrix were evaluated. Results indicated that ultrasonic agitation decreases agglomeration of TiO2 particles and allows for the deposition of dense Cu-Sn-TiO2 nanocomposites. It is shown that nanocomposite Cu-Sn-TiO2 coatings formed by ultrasonic-assisted electrodeposition exhibit excellent antimicrobial properties against E. coli bacteria.

Chitosan is an attractive material for biomedical applications. A novel approach for the anodic electrodeposition of chitosan–AgNP composites using in situ coordination with copper ions is proposed in this work. The surface and cross-section morphology of the obtained coating with varying concentrations of AgNPs were evaluated by SEM, and surface functional groups were analyzed with FT-IR spectroscopy. The mechanism of the formation of the coating based on the chelation of Cu(II) ions with chitosan was discussed. The antibacterial activity of the coatings towards Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC 35984/RP62A bacteria was analyzed using the live–dead approach. The presented results indicate that the obtained chitosan–AgNP-based films possess some limited anti-biofilm-forming properties and exhibit moderate antibacterial efficiency at high AgNP loads.

In this work, Cu–Sn–TiO₂ composite coatings were electrochemically obtained from a sulfate bath containing 0–10 g/L of TiO₂ nanoparticles. The effect of TiO₂ particles on kinetics of cathodic electrodeposition has been studied by linear sweep voltammetry and chronopotentiometry. As compared to the Cu–Sn alloy, the Cu–Sn–TiO₂ composite coatings show rougher surfaces with TiO₂ agglomerates embedded in the metal matrix. The highest average amount of included TiO₂ is 1.7 wt.%, in the case of the bath containing 5 g/L thereof. Composite coatings showed significantly improved antibacterial properties towards E. coli ATCC 8739 bacteria as compared to the Cu–Sn coatings of the same composition. Such improvement has been connected with the corrosion resistance of the composites studied by linear polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. In the bacterial media and 3% NaCl solutions, Cu–Sn–TiO₂ composite coatings have lower corrosion resistance as compared to Cu–Sn alloys, which is caused by the nonuniformity of the surface.

Potentiodynamic polarization method was used to study kinetic specific features of the electrodeposition of copper under a sonochemical treatment of a sulfuric acid electrolyte. The working current...