Synthesis, characterization and in vitro bioactivity of mesoporous copper silicate bioactive glasses

Abstract In this study, 68SiO2–23CaO–4P2O5–CuO bioglasses with and without surfactant (nonionic block copolymer, EO20PO70EO20 P123) for producing multifunctional scaffold were synthesized by sol-gel method. The resulting dried sol underwent an evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) process at 40 °C. TG-DTA (thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis) was completed to obtain the optimized temperature for calcination of the prepared powder. The dried gel was calcined at 650 °C for 2 h to obtain the final bioglasses. Then, the composition and phase structure, morphology, surface area and mesoporous structure were evaluated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analyses. In addition, the biological behavior (bioactivity, biocompatibility and antibacterial properties) of the powder was examined for their applicability in medical science. The results demonstrated that the synthesized bioglass powder formed mesoporous structure with nano-sized morphology and high surface area, and also suitable biological characteristics. The P123 (the nonionic block copolymer EO20PO70EO20) surfactant was responsible for improving homogeneous mesoporous structures and biological characteristics for the template bioglass. In addition, the use of copper in the glass structure did not inhibit its anti-bacterial properties and resulted in a low risk toxic bioglass. Finally, this synthesized bioactive glass could have the potential capability for bone defects treatment in tissue engineering due to their versatile attributes.