dc.description.abstract | In this study, the effect of supersaturation for wet chemical synthesis of Nano-hydroxyapatite HA [Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2] was investigated. The nano-hydroxyapatite powder was synthesized using Ca(OH)2 and H3PO4 as precursors at five different supersaturations while the temperature for the whole study remained at 300C. The supersaturation for hydroxyapatite was caused by changing the concentration of precursors maintaining the constrained molar ratio near 1.67 between Calcium and Phosphorus Ca/P. The H3PO4 was added to the Ca(OH)2 suspension at a constant acid addition rate of 4ml/min using a burette under vigorous stirring having maintained the final pH at 10. During the synthesis, the variation of pH of the mixed precursor suspension was measured and analysed. After 48 h aging, the precipitate was separated by centrifuging at room temperature. Then the resulting wet powder samples were dried and characterized. The particle size distribution was obtained by Laser Particle Size Analyzer and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy investigated the bonding structure of pure hydroxyapatite. In addition to that, morphological and chemical analysis was done by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). As a measurement, the time taken by the final precursor mixture to start reducing pH value increased with the supersaturation decreasing. It was clearly observed that the particle size and the standard deviation of the distribution or a broader distribution had increased with decreasing supersaturation. Finally, this model could be used to predict the particle size distribution of hydroxyapatite resulting from a wet chemical routine with the supersaturation which depends basically upon precursor concentrations. | |