Influence of Al2O3 and P2O5 contents in sol-gel ionomer glass system on the structure and their cement properties

Glass ionomer dental cement (GIC) is commonly used as a restorative material. The sol-gel synthesis of the ionomer glass is an alternative method, which can produce higher purity and homogeneous at low temperature compared with the traditional melt-quench method. This study synthesized the ionomer glass with the variation of Al2O3 and P2O5 contents in the glass formula by the sol-gel route. The term of Al/(Si+P) ratio was evaluated by XRD and XPS to understand the structural change in the sol-gel glasses. The relationship of the chemical structure of the sol-gel glass, the ions releasing behavior, setting time, and compressive strength of the sol-gel GIC were determined. This study demonstrated that the increase of Al2O3 content in glass formula increased [AlO6] octahedron and bridging oxygen (BO) in the glass structure, while the increase of P2O5 content in glass formula led to the increasing of the [AlO4] tetrahedron and BO. The sol-gel GIC composition met the maximum compressive strength at Al/(Si+P) = 1.57, whereas the general GIC composition required at Al/(Si+P) nearby 1. Moreover, in vitro cell viability of NIH/3T3 fibroblast cells also showed promising result after 2 days culture. This study provided the knowledge for adjusting the sol-gel glass composition for the appropriate properties of GIC. [GRAPHICS] .

Automated summary

This study synthesized ionomer glass with varying Al2O3 and P2O5 contents through sol-gel route, evaluating the Al/(Si+P) ratio to understand structural changes. It found that adjusting the sol-gel glass composition can optimize the properties of GIC, demonstrating promising in vitro cell viability results for fibroblast cells.