Agradecimentos: J. A. Moreto would like to acknowledge financial support received from the National Council of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq), for grants 402142/2016-0 and 303659/2019-0; Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), for grant 88881.336769/2019-01-PVEX and FAPEMIG for grant APQ-02276-18. A. Siervo would like to thank Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) Project 2007/54829-5, 2007/08244-5, and 2017/18574-4. R. V. R. V. Gelamo would like to thank Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Nanomateriais de Carbono and Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração (CBMM) and CNPq grant 440726/2020-4. All authors would like to thank professor Dr. Carlo José Freire for the laboratory facilities, Horiba LabRAM HR Evolution Raman microscope at the Institute of Physics (INFIS) supported by the grant ‘‘Pró-Equipamentos’’ from the Brazilian Agency CAPES and Chemistry Department (University of Uberlândia) for the SEM analysis Ver menos

Abstract: This paper proposes an applied and innovative research for the development of Nb2O5 thin film on the Ti6Al4V alloy surface with great prospects of being used in the biomedical area. Thin films of Nb2O5 have been deposited on the Ti6Al4V alloy surface by using the reactive sputtering technique. The system was characterized morphologically and structurally via SEM/EDX, AFM, FTIR, Raman spectroscopy and XPS. Interfacial tension theory was used for the determination of the surface free energy and showed that the treated surface became more hydrophilic when compared to the bare material. The high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectra from Nb 3d and O 1s core-levels demonstrate unequivocally the presence of a single-phase Nb2O5. Cytotoxicity and biocompatibility (VERO-CCL-81 cell line) tests as well as analyzes of inflammatory responses with Human blood leukocyte cells were also performed by showing that Nb2O5 coating reduced both Ti6Al4V alloy toxicity and its inflammation induction besides increasing the anti-inflammatory cytokine levels. Since the surface functionalization resulted in both higher biocompatibility and tolerance by immune cells besides low inflammatory levels concerning the base material, we present a superior material with wide spectra of usage in the biomedical area Ver menos