Syntheses of silicon-containing apatite fibres by a homogeneous precipitation method and their characterization

Silicon-containing apatite (Si-HAp) fibres were successfully synthesized by a homogeneous precipitation method. The resulting Si-HAp fibres were composed of carbonate-containing apatite fibres with preferred orientation in the c-axis. The Si contents in the Si-HAp fibres could be controlled by the Si concentration of the starting solutions. TEM observation indicated that the Si-HAp fibres were of single crystal. The Si-HAp fibres have potential as novel materials for high-performance biomedical devices.