Graduate Student, Institute for Materials Research
Research Postgraduate
|
Dr A P Brown
Dr S J Milne |
About
Hydroxyapatite (HA) forms the main mineral component of bone and teeth. Therefore synthetic nano-sized HA particles exhibit favourable biocompatibility and bioactivity. Naturally occurring HA in bone and teeth is in the form of nanometre sized crystallites of Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2 where the material contains a number of cation and anion impurities, for example CO32-,F- , Na+, Mg2+ and Sr2+.
Medical applications of synthetic HA have in the past used micron-sized powders, granules and composites. However, an increase in bioactivity and functionality is predicted by using nano-sized synthetic HA. For example, enhanced osteoblast proliferation and adhesion has been reported, which facilitates mineralisation reactions.
In order to optimise the performance of nano-HA it is important to develop commercially viable particle synthesis routes for producing a range of chemically modified nanoscale materials. The new powders will better match the composition of HAp present in bone and teeth, thereby further enhancing bioactivity.
Characterisation of powders is performed using a variety of techniques including TEM, EDX, XRD, XRF, FTIR and ICPMS analysis.
