Synthesis of multifunctional macroporous-mesoporous TiO₂-bioglasses for bone tissue engineering

Hierarchical porous TiO₂-bioglasses (TiO₂-BGs) with the macropore with the size of 30–50 μm and the mesopore with the diameter of 4.4–5.6 nm have been synthesized through the evaporation-induced self-assembly method. The corn stalks were used as the macroporous template and P123 as the mesoporous template in the process. The chemical and physical properties of the hierarchical porous TiO₂-BGs before and after immersion in simulated fluid (SBF) were evaluated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption–desorption, and Energy dispersive spectrometer. The effect of TiO₂ content on the formation of surface hydroxyapatite and drug release profiles of the fabricated TiO₂-BGs in SBF were investigated in detail. It was found that macroporous-mesoporous TiO₂-bioglasses (MM TiO₂-BGs) exhibited a good ability of surface hydroxyapatite formation comparing with macroporous-mesoporous bioglasses. It took only 3 h for the MM TiO₂-BGs to be covered with the hydroxyapatite layer. It can be ascribed to the present of Ti–OH which may improve the spontaneous growth of apatite by consuming the calcium and phosphate ions from SBF. Additionally, MM TiO₂-BGs also showed good drug sustained release profiles. Therefore, the multifunctional MM TiO₂-BGs reported here could be a good candidate for application in bone tissue engineering.