Polymer-controlled, bio-inspired calcium phosphate mineralization from aqueous solution

Nowadays, the majority of the commercially available calcium phosphate materials is fabricated by 'classical' materials science approaches, i.e, from rather poorly defined slurries or from organic solvents, often at high temperatures and pressures. Bioinspired precipitation of inorganics with(polymaric) additives from aqueous solution, on the other hand, enables the synthesis of intriguing inorganic or organic/inorganic materials that often much more closley related to biological structures. This article discusses approaches for the fabrication of bioinspired calcium phosphate hybrid materials by precipitation from aqueous solution. The article focus on polymers and related self-assembling structures for the design of CaP/organic hybrids and pure CaP with crystal sructures and morphologies regulated by the respective additive.