Study of nanobiomaterial hydroxyapatite in simulated body fluid: Formation and growth of apatite

Hydroxyapatite (HAp) is main mineral component of hard tissues. It is widely used in biomedical applications due to its excellent bioactivity and biocompatibility. Nanosized HAp is synthesized by wet chemical process. The synthesized HAp is characterized by XRD. FTIR. AFM and SEM for structural, morphological and functional groups analysis. The Simulated Body Fluid (SBF) is prepared by using chlorides, carbonates, oxides, and sulphates of alkali metals at 37 degrees C. The ion exchange process is carried out to exchange calcium cation by sodium and potassium. The pure HAp and ion exchanged HAp pellets are used as source of nucleating agent for apatite layer formation, in SBF maintained at 37 degrees C using incubator for different periods of time to study the bioactivity. The dielectric study is carried out on incubated pure and ion exchanged HAp pellets. XRD analysis confirms the hexagonal phase of hydroxyapatite. FTIR shows the presence of functional groups. SEM observations reveal that the growth of highly porous apatite layer on HAP surface increases with time. The dielectric constant is found to be in the range 3-12. It is seen that the synthesized HAp bioceramic nano material not only supports the growth of apatite layer but also accelerates the growth onto itself. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.