Lithium-silicate sol–gel bioactive glass and the effect of lithium precursor on structure–property relationships

ABSTRACT: This work reports the synthesis of lithium-silicate glass, containing 10 mol% of Li[Formula: see text] O by the sol–gel process, intended for the regeneration of cartilage. Lithium citrate and lithium nitrate were selected as lithium precursors. The effects of the lithium precursor on the sol–gel process, and the resulting glass structure, morphology, dissolution behaviour, chondrocyte viability and proliferation, were investigated. When lithium citrate was used, mesoporous glass containing lithium as a network modifier was obtained, whereas the use of lithium nitrate produced relatively dense glass-ceramic with the presence of lithium metasilicate, as shown by X-ray diffraction, [Formula: see text] Si and [Formula: see text] Li MAS NMR and nitrogen sorption data. Nitrate has a better affinity for lithium than citrate, leading to heterogeneous crystallisation from the mesopores, where lithium salts precipitated during drying. Citrate decomposed at a lower temperature, where the crystallisation of lithium-silicate crystal is not thermodynamically favourable. Upon decomposition of the citrate, a solid-state salt metathesis reaction between citrate and silanol occurred, followed by the diffusion of lithium within the structure of the glass. Both glass and glass-ceramic released silica and lithium ions in culture media, but release rate was lower for the glass-ceramic. Both samples did not affect chondrocyte viability and proliferation. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text]