Effects of transition metal ion dopants (Ag, Cu and Fe) on the structural, mechanical and antibacterial properties of bioactive glass

Abstract

In this investigation, an attempt has been made to provide comparative insight into the structural integrity, mechanical strength and anti-bacterial properties of three different transition metal ions namely Ag, Cu and Fe doped mesoporous nanobioglass for bone tissue engineering. Comparative 29Si NMR of the various bioglass samples was elucidated for structural integrity evaluation. Interestingly, in spite of conventional Si network former substitution, herein Ag, Cu and Fe substituted the network modifier atomic sites at a concentration of 2 wt%. This in turn affected the dissolution behavior of various ions present in the bioactive glass network. Henceforth, it potentiates the bioactive response as well as mechanical strength of the material. The mechanical response of the material against both sinusoidal and oscillatory stress forces has been measured. In terms of anti-bacterial properties, unlike the expected higher response of silver loaded bioglass, herein, interestingly copper followed by iron loaded bioactive glass displayed an excellent activity. It could be corroborated based on the structural parameters namely, network connectivity and dopant phase. The scarcity of literature data on the cytotoxicity of doped bioglass samples motivated us to evaluate the same. In brief, correlation between textural, structural, mechanical, bioactivity and cytotoxicity for the various dopants doped bioglass has been first time brought out together for the efficient bone regeneration application. Along with this, magnetic behavior of iron doped bioglass sample has also been evaluated.