Porous scaffold prepared from α′L-Dicalcium silicate doped with phosphorus for bone grafts

Abstract

α′L-Dicalcium silicate ceramic doped with phosphorus in subsystem Ca2SiO4−7CaO·P2O5·2SiO2 was used as a template to prepare a porous scaffold by the burnout technique using cellulose as porogen. A phase composition study of the ceramics prepared after porogen removal was performed by XRD and SEM-WDS in contrast to the base material. An analysis of the inter- and intraparticle pores network was run by mercury porosimetry. Density was measured by helium pycnometry. The scaffold's porosity was measured using Archimedes’ method by immersion in mercury. The in vitro behavior in SBF of the monophasic scaffold was analyzed by SEM-WDS, FTIR-ATR and TEM for several time periods. The processing technique allowed scaffolds to be easily and cheaply obtained with porosities of up to 81% by combining macro- and microporosity. The specific area effectively increased which, together with the good bioactivity rate obtained, make this material a promising candidate for bone grafts in tissue engineering.