Black TiO2 has triggered scientific interest due to its unique properties such as enhanced solar-driven photocatalytic activity. In this paper, plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) treatment of Ti-6Al4V alloy has been carried out in concentrated sodium silicate electrolyte. Silica-based black and white TiO2 coatings respectively have been obtained by controlling the oxidation time. The black coating, which was formed with a short treatment time, shows good corrosion resistance and the black appearance can be attributed to the presence of Ti2+ and Ti3+ in the coating. The lower valence titanium ions are absent in the white coatings and they also contain relatively higher Na content compared to the black coatings. The white coatings have great surface roughnesses and super hydrophilicity. The bonding strengths of the black and white coatings on the Ti-6Al-4V alloy are similar to 14.4 and 4.3 MPa, respectively. The vanadium contributes little to the black appearance of the coating on Ti6AlV alloy, since the same phenomena occur for the PEO of a pure titanium substrate. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.