Investigation of local environment of fluoride ions in bioactive glasses

To correlate the apatite forming ability of fluoride containing bioactive soda lime phosphosilicate glasses, in-depth understanding of local fluoride environments is essential. The silicate and phosphate structure of the glasses have been found to be unhindered in fluoride containing bioactive glasses in comparison to fluoride free base glass as analyzed through Raman spectroscopy. This indicates that the fluoride ions are not possibly bonded to silicate or phosphate units in the glasses. However, the Raman spectroscopy does not provide sufficient information about the association of fluorine ions with other alkali or Si ions. The local environment around fluoride ions needs to be investigated for the understanding of the in-vitro behaviour of the glasses.