Effect of phosphorus precursors on the structure of bioactive calcium phosphate silicate systems

The main aim of this work was to synthesize calcium phosphate silicate bioceramics by a low energy-consuming sol-gel method applying various phosphorous precursors (triethyl phosphate, phosphoric acid, and ammonium hydrogen phosphate). The investigations concentrated on the influence of phosphorous initial compounds on the bond and crystalline structures and the material quality. The application of the alkoxide and inorganic P-precursors results in considerably different textures. The inorganic PO₄-containing precursors lead to sol formations. The sol systems can be characterized by a randomly bonded aggregate structure. Monolith gel systems can only be prepared by using TEP. The alkoxide P-precursor more effectively furthers the connection between the phosphorous and silicon tetrahedra than the inorganic phosphate compounds. Over the P-precursors, the catalyst also affects the structure and properties. In the present work, a special attention was paid to identify the POSi bonds in the FTIR and ³¹P NMR spectra. The bond systems were investigated by FTIR, ³¹P and ²⁹Si MAS NMR spectroscopies, the morphology by SEM, WAXS, and XRD measurements, and the water solubility of the ceramic systems also was tested.