Synthesis and characterisation of copper doped Ca-Li hydroxyapatite

Hydroxyapapites M-10(PO4)(6)(OH)(2) (MHAP), where M is an alkaline earth metal, colored by incorporation of copper ions substituting protons, were discovered recently [1]. Now this kind of apatite-type materials can be used as inorganic pigments. Until now blue (BaHAP), violet (SrHAP) and wine-red (CaHAP) colors were achieved by the copper ions introduction [2]. The task of the present work was to study possibility of further M-ion substitution to affect the color and shift it toward the red-orange tint. Polycrystalline hydroxyapatites Ca10-xLix+yCuz(PO4)(6)O2H2-y-z-sigma (Ca-LiHAP) were synthesized by solid state reaction at 1150 degrees C (ceramic method) and studied by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), infrared absorption and diffuse-reflectance spectroscopy. Refinement of the X-ray diffraction patterns by the Rietveld method shows that CaHAP unit cell parameters are a little bigger, than Ca-LiHAP ones. Small difference between unit cell parameters could be caused by two ways of the Li+ ions introduction: (1) at the Ca2+ sites (Ca-Li substitution); (2) into hexagonal channels (H-Li substitution). The Li ions doping changes the color of the copper doped CaHAP from wine-red to pink and red. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.