Synthesis and Characterization of Mesoporous Hydroxyapatite

Abstract

Among the porous media, hydroxyapatite (HA) possesses good biocompatibility and bioactivity properties with respect to bone cells and tissues, due to its similarity with the hard tissues of the body. In this study, mesoporous HA was synthesized using a soft-templating technique via a selfassembly between HA and cationic surfactant  ecyltrimethylammonium bromide (C10TAB), which is analogous to the synthesis of mesoporous silica MCM-41. This co-precipitation method involved formation of hexagonal-phase micelle template by the surfactant and the precipitation of HA surrounding the micelle. After ageing, calcination was carried out to remove the templates, revealing the pores as well as to produce more crystalline and more stable HA structure. This study showed that instead of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (C16TAB) which was conventionally used, C10TAB could also be used to synthesize single-phase mesoporous HA with pore size ca. 3 nm. Ageing temperature of 120 °C, for 24 hours was found sufficient for the formation of mesoporous HA. The adsorption properties of mesoporous HA was able to be improved by increasing the water content of C10TAB-phosphate solution and by constant pH adjustment during the mixing of solutions.