In vitro behaviour of sol-gel interconnected porous scaffolds of doped wollastonite

What is it about?

Using the sol-gel method, two different three-dimensional (3D) porous interconnected scaffolds were prepared, whose compositions were MgO-K2O-CaO-SiO2 (MgO-K2O-wollastonite) and Na2O-K2O-CaO-SiO2 (Na2O-K2O-wollastonite).

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Why is it important?

Scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed the presence of both a hydroxyapatite-like microstructure and a nanostructure on the surface of 3D scaffolds. The presence of Na and K in the scaffolds resulted in the precipitation of a hierarchical hydroxyapatite-like layer composed of nanorods, approximately 200–400 nm in size. The presence of Mg and K ions in the composition caused the precipitation of particles with a nanorod morphology, approximately 50–100 nm in size. The addition of Na, K and Mg, K to the wollastonite resulted in scaffolds with mechanical strengths of 0.03 and 0.02 MPa, respectively.