Mechanical stability and biological activity of Mg–Sr co-doped bioactive glass/chitosan composite scaffolds

•High performance-MSBG/CS biological scaffolds are synthesized by freeze-drying method.•The scaffold has the honeycomb structure with 3D pores and uniform pore size.•Porosity, average pore size, swelling and degradation rate decrease with MSBG.•Its compressive modulus reaches the maximum when the mass ratio of MSBG to CS is 2:4.•MSBG could significantly improve the generation capacity of HA in the scaffold.