Synthesis and characterization of spray pyrolyzed mesoporous bioactive glass

Mesoporous bioactive glasses (MBGs) have recently been applied as important bone implant materials due to their high reactive surface areas and superior bioactivities. Various processes have been developed to fabricate MBGs. Among them, the sol-gel process is one of most popular. However, sol-gel has the drawbacks of discontinuous processing and long processing time, making it unsuitable for mass production. This study demonstrates a successful synthesis of MBGs using a spray pyrolysis (SP) method to overcome these problems. The bioactivities of the SP synthesized MBGs are correlated with the main SP processing parameter of calcination temperatures and their structures. Comparisons of the surface areas and bioactivities for the MBG particles prepared from the sol-gel and the SP process are included. Finally, the MBG formation mechanism using SP is proposed.