Preparation and characterization of nano-sized hydroxyapatite particles and hydroxyapatite/chitosan nano-composite for use in biomedical materials

Natural bone is actually an inorganic/organic composite mainly made up of nano-structure hydroxyapatite (Ca-10(PO4)(6)(OH)(2), HAp) and collagen fibers. It is of most importance to synthesize nano-composites of inorganic/organic in order to have good biocompatibility, high bioactivity and great bonding properties. In this work, HAp nano-particle and HAp/chitosan (CTS) nanocomposite with a homogeneous microstructure were prepared and characterized. It is proposed that the nano-structure of hydroxyapatite/chitosan composite will have the best biomedical properties in the biomaterials applications. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.