Abstract
Bioinspired by the abalone shell microstructure, we have fabricated inorganic/ polymer multistacked layers by combining pulsed laser ablation and magnetron sputtering. Smooth thin polymer (PMMA) films were grown by laser ablation and alternatively inserted between inorganic layers deposited by DC or RF magnetron sputtering in order to fabricate multi-layers of several biocompatible materials: CaCO3 (aragonite), ZrO2 ZrN and TiO2. The inorganic films are composed of nanocrystalline or amorphous particles with different degrees of porosity as observed by TEM and AFM. High resolution TEM analysis at the inorganic/organic interface revealed well formed inorganic films which are separated by the polymeric layer (10-50 nm). The hardness values showed an increase for the inorganic film/polymer stacked system as compared with the single film. A more detailed analysis of the results together with AFM/ nanoindentation measurements will be presented. This research is supported by ARO Grant W911F-08-1-0461 and NSF Grant DMR 0510138