Hydrothermal synthesis of Ca 2(SiO 3)(OH) 2 microbelts and their transformation to β-Ca 2SiO 4 microbelts by microwave heating

Abstract

Calcium silicates possess potential applications in biomedical fields such as drug delivery and bone tissue regeneration owing to their comparatively good bioactivity, biocompatibility and biodegradability. In this paper, we report the preparation of monoclinic β-Ca 2SiO 4 microbelts by microwave thermal transformation of Ca 2(SiO 3)(OH) 2 microbelts at 670 °C for 2 h. Ca 2(SiO 3)(OH) 2 microbelts are successfully used as both the precursor source material and the template for the preparation of β-Ca 2SiO 4 microbelts. The morphology and size of Ca 2(SiO 3)(OH) 2 microbelts can be well preserved during the microwave thermal transformation process. Ca 2(SiO 3)(OH) 2 microbelts are synthesized using Na 2SiO 3∙9H 2O, NaOH and Ca(NO 3) 2∙4H 2O in the solvent of water by a hydrothermal method at 200 °C for 24 h. The products are characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).