Exploring new approaches to realize the possibility of incorporating biologically active elements into mesoporous silicate bioactive glass nanoparticles (MBG NPs) and guaranteeing their meso- structural integrity and dimensional stability has become an attractive and interesting challenge in biomaterials science. We present a postgrafting strategy for introducing different metal elements into MBG NPs. This strategy is mediated by polydopamine (PDA) coating, achieving uniform loading of copper or copper-cobalt on the particles efficiently and ensuring the stability of MBG NPs in terms of particle size, mesoporous structure, and chemical structure. However, the PDA coating reduced the ion-binding free energy of the MBG NPs for calcium and phosphate ions, resulting in the deposition of minimal CaP clusters on the PDA@MBG NP surface when immersed for 7 days in simulated body fluid, indicating the absence of hydroxyapatite mineralization.
Keywords: biomineralization; mesoporous bioactive glass; metal-ion loading; molecular dynamics simulation; polydopamine coating.