Monodisperse Mesoporous Silica Spheres Inside a Bioactive Macroporous Glass-Ceramic Scaffold

In the field of bone tissue engineering, monosized MCM-41 spheres have been incorporated inside a bioactive glass-ceramic macro porous scaffold belonging to the SiO2-CaO-K2O (SCK) system so obtaining a multiscale hierarchical composite. The MCM-41-SCK system was prepared by dipping the glass-ceramic scaffold into the MCM-41 synthesis solution and was characterized by means of XRD, micro-XRD, N-2 sorption and scanning electron microscopy. The MCM-41 spheres inside the scaffold are highly uniform in diameter, as those synthesized in powder form. The adsorption capacity of the composite toward ibuprofen is three times higher than that of the MCM-41-free scaffold, because of the presence of the ordered meso porous silica. Also the release behavior in SBF at 37 degrees C is strongly affected by the presence of MCM-41 inside the scaffold macropores.