Synthesis, chemical and microstructural characterization of micro macroporous biphasic calcium phosphate granules

Abstract

A route based on calcium phosphate emulsions with addition of glycolic acid as pore former was developed for synthesizing porous nanocrystalline biphasic calcium phosphate ceramics. The method is low cost and gives a biphasic calcium phosphate composed of 88% β-tricalcium phosphate and 12% hydroxyapatite. The material obtained is characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence techniques, and the specific surface area is determined by the Brunauer, Emmett and Teller method. The small crystalline domain sizes obtained (68 and 87 nm for β-tricalcium phosphate and hydroxyapatite phases, respectively) allow a major contact reaction and stability in the interphase between the implanted material and natural bone, as well as a better promotion effect on the early bone in-growth. The improvement of the physical, chemical and structural properties by the balanced combination of the ceramic phases, the small crystallite size, the high porosity and high specific surface area obtained is a desirable characteristic in bone tissue engineering and encourages the performance of animal studies in vivo to evaluate their use for applications such as bone replacement in humans. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.