Rationalizing the biodegradation of glasses for biomedical applications through classical and Ab-initio simulations

Abstract

The gradual dissolution of a glass in a living host determines the rate at which processes leading to tissue regeneration can occur, which is of crucial importance for the success of biomedical implants and scaffolds for tissue engineering based on the glass. In-situ radiotherapy applications are also affected—in an opposite way—by the rate at which the glass vector used to deliver radioisotopes will degrade in the bloodstream. This chapter illustrates how a combination of classical and ab-initio simulations techniques, mainly centred on Molecular Dynamics, can shed new light into structural and dynamical features that control the biodegradation of these materials.