Preparation and Characterization of Hydroxyapatite/Zinc Composites with Alginate for Bone Scaffold Application

Abstract

Studies on hydroxyapatite are plentiful since the compounds are alike to the bone and sometimes combined with Zn to fabricate a longstanding structure and improve cell regeneration. However, construct a 3D model of HAp-Zn through sintering required high energy. Therefore, this study performed a low-temperature process using alginate, taking a role as a matrix, to achieve an interconnected porous structure while maintaining mechanical properties. The variations of alginate concentrations (0%, 2%, 4%, and 6%) were mixed with HAp-Zn powder using PBS and CaCl2. The bone scaffold was then characterized using XRD, FTIR, SEM, and compressive test. The XRD result showed that alginate addition did not change the HAp-Zn structure and phase. The degree of crystallinity and crystallite size was found to decrease with the increasing composition of alginate. The FTIR spectra also displayed an intermolecular interaction between HAp-Zn and SA. On the other hand, the SEM observation contained well interconnectivity with 50-200 μm of pore size. It led to an incline in ultimate compressive strength and modulus of elasticity with the uppermost value was 2.05 ± 0.06 MPa and 0.037 ± 0.001 GPa respectively in 6% of alginate.