The poor self-lubricating behavior and antibacterial activity of Ti-6Al-4V alloy hinder its medical applications in surgical instruments. And thus, Ag-based transition metal nitrides nanocomposite films on Ti-6Al-4V substrate where Ag existed in the form of nanoparticles have been commonly employed to improve the above properties. In this work, two kinds of Ag-based TaN films (~3 at.% Ag) with solute Ag atoms and Ag nanoparticles are respectively fabricated on the surface of Ti-6Al-4V alloy by magnetron sputtering, aiming to insight into their self-lubricating behavior and antibacterial activity. It is revealed that as Ag resides in form of solute atoms rather than nanoparticles in Ta-Ag-N films, the enhanced antibacterial activity, lower coefficient of friction (CoF) coupled with raised hardness (~39 GPa) and enhanced toughness can be achieved. Compared with the Ag nanoparticles, solute Ag atoms are considerably easier to form Ag₂O in the atmosphere and to produce self-lubricating silver tantalate (AgTaO₃) phase during the sliding, respectively contributed to the enhanced antibacterial activity and the drop in CoF. It suggests that the new strategy of incorporating solute Ag atoms into TaN can improve its self-lubricating ability and antibacterial activity for possibly extending the surgical instruments service life and reducing healthcare costs.

Ti-6Al-4V合金较差的自润滑性能和抗菌活性阻碍了其在外科器械中的医学应用。因此，通常以Ag以纳米颗粒形式存在的Ti-6Al-4V衬底上的基于Ag的过渡金属氮化物纳米复合膜来改善上述性能。在这项工作中，通过磁控溅射分别在Ti-6Al-4V合金的表面上制备了两种具有溶质Ag原子的Ag基TaN膜（〜3 at。％Ag）和Ag纳米颗粒，以了解其自身-润滑行为和抗菌活性。结果表明，由于Ag以溶质原子的形式存在而不是纳米颗粒存在于Ta-Ag-N薄膜中，因此可以实现增强的抗菌活性，较低的摩擦系数（CoF）以及更高的硬度（〜39 GPa）和更高的韧性。 。空气中的₂ O和在滑动过程中产生自润滑的钽酸银（AgTaO ₃）相，分别有助于增强抗菌活性和降低CoF。这表明将Ag溶质原子掺入TaN的新策略可以提高其自润滑能力和抗菌活性，从而有可能延长手术器械的使用寿命并降低医疗成本。