Synthesis and characterization of high-pure nanocrystalline forsterite and its potential for soft tissue applications

Abstract

This research reports the successful synthesis and formation of nanocrystalline forsterite (Mg2SiO4) powder by sol-gel method as a second phase for using in soft tissue engineering nanocomposite scaffolds. As high-pure and nanostructured forsterite is expected to have better biocompatibility and bioactivity, heat-treatment process was done on the synthesized nanopowder to obtain high-pure nanocrystalline forsterite. However, during the synthesis of forsterite, it is very difficult to avoid the formation of MgSiO3 (enstatite) and MgO (periclase). Moreover, increasing of the treatment temperature resulted in the improvement of the purity of the sample and the formation of single-phase forsterite. The TEM micrograph of the synthesized forsterite after the final heat-treatment process indicated that the particles were nearly elliptical shaped morphology and the size was in the range of 10 to 20 nm. This research also demonstrated that the pure forsterite did not show any signs of toxicity after 48 h with fibroblast cells and the cytotoxic scale was measured as zero. In addition, the combined results of the microstructural and biological studies suggested that this material exhibit good potential and biocompatibility for soft tissue engineering applications.