Abstract
Nanoscale hydroxyapatite based ceramics are a relatively new form of materials that are currently being investigated for a number of potential biomedical applications. This study reports on a straightforward wet chemical method that uses calcium hydroxide and phosphoric acid as precursors. After chemical synthesis a conventional thermal treatment was used to produce an ultrafine hydroxyapatite nanopowder. Varying ultrasonic power between zero and 400 W during the synthesis process produced crystallite sizes ranging from 15.4 nm down to 12.2 nm. The morphology of particles synthesized under the influence of ultrasonic irradiation was predominantly spherical and granular. Also present were a small number of irregular shaped plates. Energy dispersive spectroscopy revealed the samples had a Ca:P ratio of 1.66, which was very close to the ideal value of 1.67. FT-IR studies identified functional groups and confirmed the results of the X-ray diffraction data that the powders were indeed composed of nanoscale hydroxyapatite.
Highlights
The efficient repair of hard tissues that form the human skeletal system continues to be a challenging goal in biomedical engineering
X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies revealed powders synthesized without ultrasonic irradiation produced a mean crystallite size of around 15.4 nm
Varying ultrasonic power from zero to 400 W produced crystallites ranging in size from 15.4 nm down to 12.2 nm
Summary
The efficient repair of hard tissues that form the human skeletal system continues to be a challenging goal in biomedical engineering. A variety of biologically compatible ceramics such as alumina, bioactive glasses, calcium phosphates and zirconia have been used in reconstructive and regenerative hard tissue procedures with varying degrees of success [1,2,3]. Any ceramic being considered for a biomedical application must be completely biologically compatible It must be biologically stable [4], nontoxic and non-immunogenic to body tissues [5, 6]. While it’s slow biodegradability in situ allows tissue regeneration and tissue replacement to take place [3, 11, 12] These properties are of particular importance since bone continually undergoes cellular remodeling and as a result tissue is simultaneously deposited by osteoblasts cells and removed by osteoclasts cells [3, 13]. There is a current need to develop more efficient processing techniques that have the potential to deliver large quantities of HAP nanopowders for future biomedical applications
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