Table 1.

Compositions of rare earth elements-containing bioactive glasses for medical applications

Ion	Glass composition	Applications	Synthesis technique	Additional formation	Ref.
Dysprosium (Dy)	61.2 B2O3–8.8 Li2O–61.2 Dy2O3 (wt.%)	Drug delivery and radiation therapy	Melt-quenching	Microspheres with a particles size range from 45 to 150 µm	[133]
	50 SiO2–30 CaO–10 Fe2O3–10 Dy2O3 (mol%)	Radiotherapy and hyperthermia	Sol–gel	Porous glass powder after thermal treatment at 500 and 800 °C	[135]
Europium (Eu)	70 SiO2–20 CaO–5 P2O5 with 5 Eu2O3 (or Tb2O3) (mol%)	Bone regeneration and drug delivery	Sol–gel	Mesoporous nanofibers with an average diameter of 100–120 nm	[59]
	100 SiO2 with 1, 2, and 3 Eu2O3 (mol%)	Skin and bone regeneration	Sol–gel	Mesoporous nanospheres with a particle size range of 280-300 nm	[69]
	SiO2–CaO–P2O5 with 5 Eu2O3 (mol%)	Drug delivery	Sol–gel	Mesoporous powder	[58]
	60 SiO2–36 CaO–4 P2O5 with 0, 0.5, 1, and 2 Eu2O3 (mol%)	Bone regeneration	Sol–gel	Mesoporous nanospheres with a particle size around 500 nm	[57]
	80 SiO2–16 CaO–4 P2O5 with 1, 2, and 3 Eu2O3 (mol%)	Cell imaging and bone regeneration	Sol–gel	Nanoparticles with a particle size range of 200–400 nm	[60]
	80 SiO2–15 CaO–5 P2O5 with 0, 1, 2, and 5 Eu2O3 (mol%)	Cell imaging and bone regeneration	Sol–gel	Mesoporous bioactive glass scaffolds with a pore size range of 300–500 µm	[70]
Gadolinium (Gd), Ytterbium (Yb) and Thulium (Tm)	47.28 SiO2–31.39 Na2O–15.33 CaO–6 P2O5 with 2.5 Gd2O3 or Yb2O (wt.%)	Tissue engineering	Melt-quenching	Glass powder with a particle size of less than 125 µm	[85]
	SiO2–CaO–Gd2O3 with the Ca:Gd molar ratios 3:1 and 5:1	Bone regeneration	Sol–gel	Combination of mesoporous calcium silicate scaffold with chitosan using lyophilization technique	[90]
	84 SiO2–12 CaO–4 P2O5 with the Ca:Gd molar ration 3:1, 5:1, and 7:1	Bone regeneration	Sol–gel	Microsphere powder with a particle size around 300 nm + BG scaffold using lyophilization technique	[89]
	47.28 SiO2–31.39 NaO2–15.33 CaO–6 P2O5 with 2.5 Gd2O3 or 2.5 Yb2O3 or 0.5 Fe2O3 (wt.%)	Biomedical applications	Melt-quenching	Glass powder with a particle size of less than 75 µm	[84]
	63 SiO2–37 CaO with 0.15, 0.3 and 0.5 Tm2O3 and 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 Yb2O3 (mol.%)	Regenerative medicine or drug delivery	Sol–gel	Glass powder with a particle size range of 80–120 nm	[91]
Holmium (Ho)	58 SiO 2–33 CaO–9 P2O5 with 1.25, 2.5 and 5 Ho2O3 (wt.%)	Brachytherapy	Sol–gel	Glass powder	[78]
	58 SiO2–33 CaO–9 P2O5 with 1.25, 2.5, 3.75, and 5 Ho2O3 (wt.%)	Brachytherapy	Sol–gel	Glass powder incorporated into the Poloxamer 407 hydrogel (20 wt.%)	[79]
Lanthanum (La)	67 SiO2–5 Na2O–24 CaO–4 P2O5 with 5 La2O3 (or CuO) (mol%)	Tissue engineering	Sol–gel	Glass powder with a particle size of less than 63 µm and BG scaffolds with macropores in the range of 300–500 µm using the robocasting technique	[124]
	64.4 SiO2–2.48 Na2O–21.53 CaO–4.55 P2O5 with 0, 1, 3 and 5 wt.% La2O3 (or/and CuO)	Tissue engineering	Sol–gel	Glass powder with a particle size range of 3.5–4.6 µm	[123]
	25 Na2O–25 CaO–50 P2O5 with 5 and 10 La2O3 (mol%)	Drug delivery	Sol–gel	Mesoporous nanoparticles with a particle size range of 25–100 nm	[118]
	58 SiO2–38 CaO–4 P2O5–1 La2O3 (wt.%)	Bone regeneration	Sol–gel	Glass powder	[125]
	20 Na2O–14 CaO–66 P2O5 with 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.7 and 1 La2O3 (mol%)	Tissue engineering	Melt-quenching	Glass powder with a particle size range of 106–180 µm	[116]
Samarium (Sm)	45 SiO2–24.5 Na2O–24.5 CaO–6 P2O5 with 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 Sm2O3 (wt.%)	Bone regeneration	Melt-quenching	Glass powder	[97]
	46.1 SiO2–24.4 Na2O–26.9 CaO–6 P2O5 with 0, 0.2, and 2 Sm2O3 (wt.%)	Tissue engineering	Melt-quenching	Glass powder with a particle size of around 100 µm	[93]
	SiO2–CaO–P2O5 with 0, 0.5, and 1 Sm2O3 (mol%)	Bone cancer	Sol–gel	Combination of mesoporous bioactive glass with alginate powder with a particle size of around 1200 µm	[98]
	45.6 SiO2–24.4 Na2O–26.9 CaO–2.6 P2O5 with 0.5 Sm2O3 (mol%)	Biomedical applications	Melt-quenching	Glass fiber with a diameter of 100 µm from the glass melt	[96]
	10 Na2O–15 CaO–65 P2O5–15 CaF2 with 0, 0.5, 1, and 2 Sm2O3 (mol%)	Bone regeneration	Melt-quenching	Mixing of 2.5% glass powder with 97.5% of hydroxyapatite powder (wt.%)	[99]
Terbium (Tb) and Erbium (Er)	79.5 SiO2–15 CaO–5 P2O5 with 0.5 and 1 Tb2O3 (mol%)	Bone regeneration	Sol–gel	Mesoporous nanospheres with a particle size range of 100–200 nm	[130]
	53 SiO2–6 Na2O–20 CaO–4 P2O5–12 K2O–5 MgO with 1, 3, 5 Tb2O3 or 1, 3, 5 Er2O3 or 0.5, 1.5, and 2.5 with co-dopingTb2O3 and Er2O3 (wt.%)	Bioimaging	Sol–gel	Glass powder with a particle size range of 1.45–3.57 µm	[132]
	30 Na2O–25 CaO–45P2O5 with 0, 1, 3, and 5 Y2O3 (mol%)	Radiotherapy	Melt-quenching	Glass powder	[113]
	62.35 SiO2–15.85 Na2O–(20.80–x) CaO–1.0 P2O5 with x = 0 and 4.68 Y2O3 (mol%)	Radiotherapy	Melt-quenching	Glass powder	[112]
	58 SiO2–33 CaO–9 P2O5 with 10 Y2O3 (wt.%)	Radiotherapy	Sol–gel	Glass powder with an average particle size of 1 µm	[105]
Yttrium (Y)	6 Na2O–20 CaO–4 P2O5–12 K2O–5 MgO–52 B2O3–1 Y2O3 (wt.%)	Tissue engineering	Melt-quenching	Glass powder with a particle size range of 100–300 µm	[114]