Molybdenum effect on the structure of SiO₂-CaO-P₂O₅ bioactive xerogels and on their interface processes with simulated biofluids.

The study is focused on synthesis, investigation of the structural and morphological changes induced by MoO3 addition, and thermal treatment, as well as in vitro characterization of a new sol-gel derived SiO2-CaO-P2O5 bioactive materials. The obtained systems are composite materials consisting of nanocrystalline apatite, bioactive glass and CaMoO4 nanoparticles, which are of interest for both regenerative medicine and specific medical applications of the releasable molybdenum ions. The changes induced by the thermal treatments and MoO3 addition with respect to the structure and morphology were completed using differential thermal analysis\thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller. The biological performance of these materials was evaluated in vitro by performing bioactivity and biocompatibility tests. The bioactive properties in terms of hydroxyapatite layer formation on the biomaterial surface after simulated body fluid immersion were studied by XRD and SEM. To establish their biocompatibility, the biomaterials surface was functionalized with protein and the resulted sample was investigated using SEM, FTIR, and XPS. The obtained results suggest that the addition of molybdenum oxide in proper concentration improves the biocompatibility in terms of enhancement of protein adherence on Si-Ca-P surface due to CaMoO4 crystalline phase development and does not inhibit bioactivity.