The silicon complexes in silicon doped calcium phosphate bioceramics have been studied using $^{29}$Si magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The replacement of phosphorus by silicon in these materials requires a charge compensation mechanism which is difficult to study by many experimental techniques due to the small amount of silicon added. Producing these materials using an isotopically enriched source of silicon made the use of NMR spectroscopy feasible. Three different materials have been studied: a multiphase material commercially available under the trade name Skelite$^{\rm TM}$ composed of predominantly a silicon stabilized $\alpha$-tricalcium phosphate ($\alpha$-TCP) phase as well as a silicon doped hydroxyapatite (HA) phase, a single phase Si-HA material and a single phase silicon stabilized $\alpha$-TCP material. Slight changes to the material production method were first introduced to accommodate the switch to an isotopically enriched silicon source. Characterization of the enriched materials was carried out using Rietveld refinement of X-ray powder diffraction spectra and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to confirm that these materials were similar to the previously studied, non-enriched, materials in terms of the silicon contents, Ca/(P+Si) molar ratios and lattice parameters. NMR Spectroscopy showed that in all three materials, the silicon formed Q$^1$ structures in which two silicate tetrahedra joined together by sharing an oxygen, creating an oxygen vacancy which compensated the substitution of two silicon for phosphorus. This is the first observation of this charge compensation mechanism in Si-HA and may explain the interesting phase evolution previously found in the system studied in this work in which the Si-HA transforms to silicon stabilized $\alpha$-TCP upon sintering. / Thesis (Master, Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy) -- Queen's University, 2007-12-18 14:45:38.721

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