Bioactive SiO2-K2O-CaO-P2O5 glass-ceramic scaffold prepared using polyurethane foam template

Abstract A glass-ceramic in the SiO2-K2O-CaO-P2O5 quaternary system was prepared by substituting the Na2O component with K2O to avoid Na2Ca2Si3O9 formation upon thermal treatment since this phase decreases apatite formation kinetics on glass material. To form the glass-ceramic, a modified sol-gel method involving solution precipitation, followed by reagents encapsulation in citric acid was adopted to enable the use of sodium metasilicate as a cheap substitute for traditional alkoxysilane silica precursors. The foam replication method using polyurethane foam as a sacrificial template was used t...

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