Ag-doped phosphate bioactive glasses: thermal, structural and in vitro dissolution properties

Abstract

Ag doped-bioactive phosphate glasses were processed by traditional melt quenching technique with the concentration of Ag2O ranging from 0 to 5 mol%. The Ag doping led to the depolymerization of the phosphate networkwhich is accompanied by a decrease in the glass transition temperature. The processing window represented by ∆T (∆T=Tx-Tg) exhibited a maximum for glasses containing 2-3 mol% of Ag2O. An increase in Ag content induced an increase in the glass dissolution rate. The precipitation of a Sr-CaP layer at the surface of the glass particulates was found to occur at shorter immersion time for the Ag containing glasses. The congruent dissolution and wide processing window of these Ag containing glasses may be of great interest for scaffold manufacturing from sintering of glass powders with antimicrobial properties.