Abstract
Mesoporous hydroxyapatite (HA) and iron(III)-doped HA (Fe-HA) are attractive materials for biomedical, catalytic, and environmental applications. In the present study, the nanopowders of HA and Fe-HA with a specific surface area up to 194.5 m2/g were synthesized by a simple precipitation route using iron oxalate as a source of Fe3+ cations. The influence of Fe3+ amount on the phase composition, powders morphology, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area (S), and pore size distribution were investigated, as well as electron paramagnetic resonance and Mössbauer spectroscopy analysis were performed. According to obtained data, the Fe3+ ions were incorporated in the HA lattice, and also amorphous Fe oxides were formed contributed to the gradual increase in the S and pore volume of the powders. The Density Functional Theory calculations supported these findings and revealed Fe3+ inclusion in the crystalline region with the hybridization among Fe-3d and O-2p orbitals and a partly covalent bond formation, whilst the inclusion of Fe oxides assumed crystallinity damage and rather occurred in amorphous regions of HA nanomaterial. In vitro tests based on the MG-63 cell line demonstrated that the introduction of Fe3+ does not cause cytotoxicity and led to the enhanced cytocompatibility of HA.
Highlights
We demonstrated the influence of the Fe3+ amount introduction on the phase composition, powder morphology, and mesoporous formation, as well as observed fine structure based electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and Mössbauer spectroscopy
The increase in Fe3+ content resulted in a significant increase in S and modification of the pore size distribution
The synthesized powders could be applied as a catalyst, sorption material for water purification, or medical application as a matrix for bone tissue engineering, or as a drug delivery system
Summary
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).Hydroxyapatite (HA) Ca10 (PO4 )6 (OH)2 is the main inorganic compound of the bone tissue and has great importance in the biomedical field as a material for implantation and coatings [1,2]. At the same time, a HA is applied in the areas where morphology, porosity, and BET specific surface area (S) of the nanopowders play a significant role [3].The importance of the catalytic, adsorption, and drug delivery fields increase rapidly in the last decades [4]. The synthesis of mesoporous HA became the focus of the investigators.
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