An investigation on the effect of acetone and DMF as solvent on synthesis of P2O5-CaO-Na2O-TiO2 glass powder by sol-gel method

The sol-gel synthesis method allows greater control over glass morphology at a relatively low processing temperature (200 °C) in comparison with melt-derived glasses. In present study, phosphate-based glasses with the general formula of (P2O5)55-(CaO)25-(Na2O)10-(TiO2)10 was synthesized via a novel and facile sol-gel method for use in biomedical applications. For this purpose, dimethylformamide and acetone were used as the solvent. Glass powders that are obtained from the dried gel was analyzed using several characterization techniques including X-Ray Diffraction, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Simultaneous Thermal Analysis, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area and porosity analyzer and Scanning Electron Microscopy. The X-Ray Diffraction results confirmed the amorphous and glassy nature of prepared samples. The Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy results revealed that by adding TiO2, titanium oxide (TiO6) entered into the network which likely acts as an oxide modifier. It was observed that crystallization temperature (Tc) for the sample synthesized by dimethylformamide (DMF) (~646 °C) is more than the one synthesized by acetone (~500 °C). The surface area of the acetone and DMF of synthesized samples is 40 m2/g and 44.5 m2/g, respectively. Furthermore, to examine the bioactive capacity of glasses, the samples were soaked in a simulated body fluid (SBF) for 7 days. The analyses were shown the formation of hydroxyapatite on glass powders after 7 days of immersion in SBF solution. The morphology of hydroxyapatite was spherical and its particle size was ~8 nm.