Characterization of Mesoporous Biphasic Calcium Phosphate Synthesized Using Chitosan and Aloe Vera Template

Abstract

Biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP) is a bonegraft material which is a mixture of hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2, HA) and betatricalcium phosphate (Ca3(PO4)2, β-TCP). The combination of HA and β-TCP provides faster osseointegration, compared to HA, into parent bone so it can accelerate the bone recovery process. The mesoporous structure of bone graft material is suitable for drug delivery purpose. In order to study the mesoporous structure of BCP, the BCPs were prepared by precipitation method using chitosan, aloe vera, and chitosan-aloe vera hybrid as templates. A solution containing Ca(NO3)2·4H2O and template and a solution containing (NH4)2HPO4 and NH4HCO3 were used as starting materials. All prepared samples were calcined at 900°C for 1 hour. The identification of phases and functional groups of obtained BCP powders were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction technique and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, repectively. The XRD patterns show typical peaks of both HA and β-TCP crystal phases. FTIR spectra confirm the presence of phosphate functional groups. Morphological analysis using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) observed the presence of regular porous structure, however, the mesoporous structure was not seen. Particle size distribution and pore size analysis were analyzed by Particle Size Analyzer and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) method, respectively.