Preparation of mesoporous calcium doped silica spheres with narrow size dispersion and their drug loading and degradation behavior

The mesoporous calcium doped silica spheres (CaMS) as well as silica spheres (MS) have been successfully synthesized by a simple one-step method. MS showed a uniform sphere morphology and CaMS exhibited an ellipse morphology with the long axis of around 100 nm. The amount of CaO in CaMS was up to 8.18 wt%. The mesoporous structures of MS and CaMS were studied by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and liquid nitrogen adsorption. The results showed that the addition of Ca(NO₃)₂ led to the decreased cell parameters and the increased pore size of CaMS compared to MS. Ibuprofen (IBU) drug storage capacities and release rate were investigated and there was no obvious difference between MS and CaMS. The degradation results showed that CaMS had a significant higher degradation rate than MS. The mesoporous calcium doped silica spheres have potential as drug carrier for controlled-release application.