Effect of titanium ions on the ion release rate and uptake at the interface of silica based xerogels with simulated body fluid

• New insights into corrosion of bioactive glasses in simulated body fluid.
• Effect of TiO2 added to bioactive glasses on their behaviour in aqueous media.
• Incorporation of TiO2 slows the corrosion rate of bioactive glasses.
• TiO2 influences the ion release rate of phosphate, but scarcely affects that of silicate.

The dissolution and surface layer changes of new xTiO2(100 − x)[4SiO2·CaO·0.3P2O5] sol–gel derived xerogels (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 20 mol%) have been investigated in Kokubo’s simulated body fluid (SBF). The ionic leaching rate was analysed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES). ICP-AES results showed a relatively fast dissolution of titanium free sample, with a high release of phosphorous and calcium ions in the first hour of incubation while the release of silicon ions continuously increased up to 6 h of immersion. The titanium dioxide addition up to 20 mol% differently influences the release of phosphorus, calcium and silicon ions, i.e. TiO2 strongly stabilises the phosphorus ions, to a lesser extent the calcium ions, and has almost no effect on the silicon ions release. The structural changes were evaluated using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The XRD results show that all samples remain mainly amorphous after immersion in SBF. The changes occurred in the surrounding of phosphorous and silicon ions are well reflected in FTIR spectra and they were correlated with the samples stability in SBF.