Engineering the Surface Chemistry of Mesoporous Bioactive Glasses via Spray Pyrolysis: The Role of Ag and Ce Doping.

This study fills a key gap in next-generation biomaterials by advancing the use of spray pyrolysis (SP) as a means of overcoming common difficulties of traditional synthesis methods, namely, control over morphology, scalability, and surface properties. We doped our material with silver and cerium and used our ability to regulate the surface chemistry to assert control over material properties. Our investigations synthesized a series of 80S mesoporous bioactive glasses (MBGs) that adhered to a congruent spherical nanoparticle morphology. For the co-doped sample, the average particle size for the co-doping was 529.81 ± 180.98 nm, consistently confirmed by Scanning Electron Microscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy. The porous structure was also characterized to a great extent using the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method for porosity. The undoped sample indicated a specific surface area of 230.68 ± 10.61 m²/g, with values for the co-doped sample having minimally changed at 191.93 ± 0.54m²/g. X-ray diffraction confirmed that the samples are amorphous. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy established a critical connection between surface chemistry and biological response using a high non-bridging oxygen to bridging oxygen ratio of 73.66:26.36. In vitro cytotoxicity tests demonstrated that all materials maintain a high degree of cell viability with values above 70%. Overall, our findings support the proposition that multifunctional nanoparticles could be tuned as biomaterials, providing an effective material for enhancing the process of bone regeneration and contributing to the development of truly smart biomaterials.