Morphological Evolution of Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles, Synthesized via Modified Sol‐Gel and Microemulsion Technique, in Response to Their Synthesis Microenvironment

Abstract

AbstractMethods for the synthesis and characterization of well‐dispersed nanostructured materials are widely explored for potential applications in various fields. Several challenges in synthesizing nanoparticles (NPs) with controlled morphology, narrow size distribution, and optimum stability are tested but the fundamental understanding of the growth of NP crystal structure leading to various morphologies still needs to be addressed. This study attempts to understand the role of the synthesis environment, i.e., solvents, stabilizing agents, and the surfactant concentration, that controls the crystal growth of the synthesized biocompatible hydroxyapatite nanoparticles resulting in different shapes and sizes. The lattice parameters, space group, interplanar spacing, and unit cell dimensions are calculated using the experimentally obtained powder diffraction patterns for the various NPs. Atoms are placed at random sites in the unit cell based on the collected crystallographic information, and a final atomic arrangement and subsequent morphological evolution are arrived at via local and global optimization.