Abstract
Attributable to their low chemical durability, borate-based glasses have been demonstrated to convert rapidly to hydroxy-carbonated apatite (HCA), the inorganic component of bone. However, the effect of sol-gel processing on the bioactivity of borate-based glasses has not been investigated. In this study, the gel and glass forming abilities of six different borate-based glass formulations with borate content ranging from 36 to 61 mol % and based on a previously studied four component melt-derived glass system [(46.1)B2O3–(26.9)CaO–(24.4)Na2O–(2.6)P2O5; mol %] were investigated. Compared to melt-quench, sol-gel processing fabricated nanoporous glass particles with at least 2 orders of magnitude greater values for specific surface areas and total pore volumes, which translated to dramatically higher aqueous interaction and ion release rates. Surprisingly, when immersed in simulated body fluid, HCA conversion was achieved in as little as 3 h for sol-gel derived borate based glasses, demonstrating a 25-fold i...
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