Silica deposition on zirconia via Room-Temperature Atomic Layer Deposition and bond strength to resin-based luting agent

To evaluate the effect of the controlled growth of yttria-stabilized zirconia (Y-PSZ) transformed layer and silica deposition via Room-Temperature Atomic Layer Deposition (RT-ALD) on the shear bond strength (SBS) between Y-PSZ and luting agent. Y-PSZ specimens (IPS e.max ZirCAD) with different translucencies (MO, MT, LT) were exposed to surface treatments (n = 10): control (C - no treatment), aged (A - 15 h, 134 °C, 2 bar in autoclave), blasted (B - 50 μm Al₂O₃), silica deposition via RT-ALD (R - 40 cycles of sequential exposure to tetramethoxysilane orthosilicate and ammonium hydroxide vapors) and aged followed by silica deposition (AR). Specimens were bonded to resin composite cylinders with a luting agent (Multilink Automix) and SBS test was performed. Failure mode and surface chemical and topographical characterization (energy-dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy) were performed. SBS data was analyzed by two-way ANOVA and Tukey test (α = 0.05). Silica deposition resulted in SBS values similar to alumina blasting (p >.848), with no significant effect of aging (p >.664). Higher incidence of composite resin cohesive failures was observed in the R-treated specimens (MT, LT), with and without aging. SEM images showed a rougher surface for B-treated specimens, while no changes were observed for the other treatments. XPS analysis showed a nanofilm of silica deposited over the zirconia surface after silica deposition. RT-ALD was an effective technique to deposit silica on the surface of zirconia, generating bond strength results similar to alumina-blasted specimens.