Synthesis and characterization of Zn doped biphasic calcium phosphate nanoparticles prepared by sol-gel method

Hydroxyapatite (HA) and β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) represent the main types of calcium phosphatesused for bone and dental surgery. Zinc is the most abundant trace metallic element found in bone and other hard tissues,e.g. enamel and dentine. Therefore Zn doped biphasic calcium phosphate (Zn-BCP) can be a good choice of biomaterialfor orthopedic and dental applications. In this work Zn-BCP nano powders containing various amounts of zinc (1.6, 3.2and 6.3 wt.% Zn) were prepared by sol-gel method and heat treated at 1050ºC. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electronmicroscopy (SEM), Fourier transformer infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR) and inductive coupled plasma (ICP) wereused for characterization and evaluation of the phase composition, morphology and particle size of products. The size ofthe prepared nanoparticles was measured between 10-500 nm. Furthermore, the higher amount of β-TCP phase in BCPwas formed by increasing the amount of zinc in the BCP composition.

Keywords:

Zn-doped biphasic calcium phosphate , nanoparticles , sol gel method