Bioactivity characterization of 45S5 bioglass using TL, OSL and EPR: Comparison with the case of 58S sol-gel bioactive glass

•TL, OSL and EPR have been applied as alternative techniques for bioactivity characteriztion.•The 110 °C TL peak and the peak to peak intensity of the OHC EPR signal have been effectively considered as proxies for bioactivity studies.•A time scale has been established for each chemical reaction involved in the five-step procedure required for the HCAp formation.•Besides the first initial step, the beginning of the rest chemical reaction steps takes place faster in the case of sol-gel derived 58S glass than the quenching-derived 45S5 bioglass.

The current work exploits the effective application of thermoluminescence (TL), optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and the possibility of applying Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) for the discrimination between different bioactive responses in the case of the 45S5 bioactive glass (SiO2 45, Na2O 24.5, CaO 24.5, P2O5 6 in wt%), which was synthesized through melting process. These techniques are suggested mainly due to their low spectroscopic detection thresholds. The original 45S5 in grain size range of 20-40 μm was immersed in the Simulated Body Fluid (SBF) for various different immersion times ranging over one week. In this work the 110 °C TL peak, a specific OSL component and the EPR signal at g = 2.013 ascribed to oxygen hole center (OHC) are used due to their sensitivity to the different bioactive responses. For all luminescence and EPR components, the intensity plot versus immersion time yields sharp discontinuities, resulting in effective probes regarding the timescale for both the beginning as well as the end of the procedure of the crystalline HCAp formation respectively. On the contrary to the smooth decreasing pattern of both luminescence entities, the peak to peak amplitude of the EPR signal indicates an initial increase for the initial 16 min of immersion, followed by a further decrease throughout the immersion time duration. The discontinuities monitored for both sensitivity of TL, OSL and EPR, in conjunction with the discontinuities monitored for the sensitization of TL and OSL, when plotted versus immersion time, provide an individual time scale for each one of the chemical reactions involved in the five steps of the aforementioned procedure. According to the authors' best knowledge, scarce characterization techniques could provide this time scale frame, while it is the first time that such an application of OSL and EPR is attempted. Finally, the bioactive response of the 45S5 bioglass was compared with that of the 58S sol-gel bioactive glass, in terms of the timescale of these five stages required for the final formation of the HCAp. The techniques of luminescence and EPR which take advantage of trapped charges are proposed as alternative cheap and prompt effective techniques towards discrimination between different bioactive responses in bioactive glasses.

Graphical abstractDownload high-res image (156KB)Download full-size image