Synthesis, structural and biomedical characterization of hydroxyapatite/borosilicate bioactive glass nanocomposites

In this work, a borosilicate glass sample (5SiO 2 -45B 2 O 3 -20Na 2 O-25CaO-5Ag 2 O) was added to nano-sized carbonated hydroxyapatite (CHA) powders with different contents up to 20 wt.% to improve the bioactivity, antibacterial effect, physical and mechanical properties of the resulting nanocomposites. Then, these samples were mixed, milled with a high-energy ball mill, sintered at 700°C and subjected to X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to examine their structure, chemical composition and microstructure, respectively. Furthermore, the physical and mechanical properties of the sintered nanocomposites were also measured. Moreover, the in vitro bioactivity of the prepared nanocomposites was examined with XRD and SEM. Additionally, the antibacterial behavior of these samples was tested against E. coli and S. aureus by the disc-diffusion method. The results obtained pointed out that the sample with the highest content of BG possessed the best bioactivity, antibacterial effect, physical and mechanical properties.