Synthesis of Nanostructured Hydroxyapatite: A Comparative Study between Sol-Gel and Aqueous Solution Precipitation

Abstract

Particle size is one of the most important factors to the successful application of calcium phosphate bioceramics as it may have an important role on its final properties such as mechanical resistance and reactivity. Thus, a process which results on very small and homogeneous particles is required, since it avoids further contamination derived from long milling times. On this context, a process such as sol-gel synthesis may be feasible, due to its simplicity on handling and its well known characteristic of producing homogeneous nanoparticles. Moreover, precipitated HA also may lead to satisfactory results regarding particle size and phase purity. The aim of this article was to demonstrate a preliminary characterization study of powders obtained by both methods and to compare them to a commercial sample available in Brazil. Characterization was made by XRD, Scherrer’s equation, XRF, SEM-LV, SEM-FEG and SEM-EDS. It has been found out that all samples consist of pure nanostructured hydroxyapatite with crystallite size between 37nm and 62nm.