Efficacy of Sr2⁺ and Cu2⁺ Ion Incorporation on the Mechanical, biological, and antibacterial properties of natural waste-derived borosilicate bioactive glasses for orthopaedic implants

The inclusion of the metal based therapeutic ions into bioactive glasses received potential towards tissue regeneration applications due to their excellent biocompatible, mechanical and wear properties. In the current work, one such configuration is chosen, strontium (Sr) and Copper (Cu) ions based bioactive borosilicate glass system i.e., [Formula: see text] with varying composition of Sr and Cu for 0, 1 and 2 wt.%. The glasses were prepared through melt quench process and the as prepared specimens are characterized for their microstructural, mechanical, tribological, biocompatible and biological investigations. The results were found to appealing with microstructure and crystallographic peaks displaying the presence of extracted natural Silica (Si) and Calcium (Ca) powders. Further the same specimens are characterized for their mechanical strength and it was found to be 55.21MPa compressive strength and lowest specific wear rate overall for CuSr-1 wt.% composition. Being CuSr-1% displaying better mechanical properties, the same samples i.e., Cu, Sr for 1wt.%, were investigated for their biocompatible studies through Simulated Body Fluid immersion protocol. The SBF studies indicate the formation of hydroxyapatite that can be inferred from crystallographic peaks and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. The samples were also exposed to antibacterial studies against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) and are found to exhibit excellent antibacterial activity. The observed selective antibacterial activity highlights the potential of these bioactive glasses as advanced materials for load-bearing orthopaedic implants and bone tissue engineering scaffolds, where the simultaneous requirements of mechanical robustness and antimicrobial efficacy are critical for clinical success.