Synthesis and Characterization of Silver-Doped Mesoporous Bioactive Glass and Its Applications in Conjunction with Electrospinning

Since they were first developed in 2004, mesoporous bioactive glasses (MBGs) rapidly captured the interest of the scientific community thanks to their numerous beneficial properties. MBGs are synthesised by a combination of the sol–gel method with the chemistry of surfactants to obtain highly mesoporous (pore size from 5 to 20 nm) materials that, owing to their high surface area and ordered structure, are optimal candidates for controlled drug-delivery systems. In this work, we synthesised and characterised a silver-containing mesoporous bioactive glass (Ag-MBG). It was found that Ag-MBG is a suitable candidate for controlled drug delivery, showing a perfectly ordered mesoporous structure ideal for the loading of drugs together with optimal bioactivity, sustained release of silver from the matrix, and fast and strong bacterial inhibition against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Silver-doped mesoporous glass particles were used in three electrospinning-based techniques to produce PCL/Ag-MBG composite fibres, to coat bioactive glass scaffolds (via electrospraying), and for direct sol electrospinning. The results obtained in this study highlight the versatility and efficacy of Ag-substituted mesoporous bioactive glass and encourage further studies to characterize the biological response to Ag-MBG-based antibacterial controlled-delivery systems for tissue-engineering applications.