Sol-gel preparation of anti-bacterial and bioactive glass-ceramics

Abstract

Glass-ceramics were synthesized through the sol-gel method. The Thermogravimetry & Differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), BET, Scanning electron microscope (SEM), bioactivity and turbidometric tests were used to characterize the properties of the glass-ceramics. The TG-DSC results showed that the nitrates could be decomposed completely when the bioactive glass xerogel precursor was heat treated at 750°C. The synthesized glass-ceramic powders had an average particle size of about 3 μm to 20 μm with nanopores on the surface. The XRD results showed that the Na2Ca3Si6O16 and CaSiO3 were the major phases of the glass-ceramics heat treated at 600°C and 700°C, respectively. The flexural strength significantly increased from 79.2 MPa to 163.6 MPa with the sintering temperature increasing from 550°C to 600°C. The formation of carbonated hydroxyapatite can be proved by FT-IR results in this study. The synthesized glass-ceramics have good bioactivity and anti-bacterial property.