Better bioactive ceramics through sol-gel process

Bioactive glasses and glass ceramics need to be capable of growing a calcium phosphate layer at their surfaces in physiological environment in order to bond with living bone. Sol-gel prepared silica (silica gel) and titania (titania gel) are efficient calcium phosphate absorbents. Both gels extract calcium and phosphate from surrounding physiological and other calcium phosphate solutions and form a calcium phosphate at their surfaces in return. Thus, they can integrate with bone. Under the same condition, however, silica and titania, as both prepared through a conventional high temperature process, are unable to transfer calcium and phosphate from the solutions to obtain a calcium phosphate at their surfaces. Therefore, it is concluded that using inorganic or metal organic precursors, sol-gel process can yield bioactive materials with a high bioactivity.