Influence of Ceria Addition on Crystallization Behavior and Properties of Mesoporous Bioactive Glasses in the SiO2-CaO-P2O5-CeO2 System

Knowledge of the crystallization stability of bioactive glasses (BGs) is a key factor in developing porous scaffolds for hard tissue engineering. Thus, the crystallization behavior of three mesoporous bioactive glasses (MBGs) in the 70SiO(2)-(26-x)CaO-4P(2)O(5)-xCeO(2) system (x stands for 0, 1 and 5 mol. %, namely MBG(0/1/5)Ce), prepared using the sol-gel method coupled with the evaporation-induced self-assembly method (EISA), was studied. A thermal analysis of the multiple-component crystallization exotherms from the DSC scans was performed using the Kissinger method. The main crystalline phases of Ca-5(PO4)2.823(CO3)(0.22)O, CaSiO3 and CeO2 were confirmed to be generated by the devitrification of the MBG with 5% CeO2, MBG5Ce. Increasing the ceria content triggered a reduction in the first crystallization temperature while ceria segregation took place. The amount of segregated ceria of the annealed MBG5Ce decreased as the annealing temperature increased. The optimum processing temperature range to avoid the crystallization of the MBG(0/1/5)Ce powders was established.