Orientation of Hydroxyapatite Rods Formed by Hydrothermal Treatment of Calcium Carbonate

Abstract

Morphological control on hydroxyapatite (HAp) crystals is one of attractive researches to produce novel bioactive materials for repairing bone defects. Hydrothermal processing has been applied to fabricate well-grown crystals of HAp, through a reaction from appropriate calcium and phosphate sources. We recently found that oriented structure was observed when single crystal of calcium carbonate was used as a starting material for the hydrothermal processing. However, the detailed process on the orientation of HAp crystals has been not clarified yet. In the present study, we investigated the effects of the crystalline planes of calcite on HAp formation through the hydrothermal condition. Calcite single crystals with either of {100} or (111) plane was used as a starting material to examine the difference of the reactivity in a phosphate solution. After the hydrothermal treatment at 160 °C for 24 h, the surfaces and cross-sections of starting materials were characterized. Rod-shaped HAp crystals were oriented on the surface of the starting material with {100} plane, whereas small HAp crystals formed on the starting material with (111) plane followed by growth to same direction that were observed on the sample with the {100} plane. The difference in the morphology of the formed HAp was caused by the reactivity of each crystal plane.