Controllable Design of Various Microstructures for Hydroxyapatite Coatings by Electrophoresis Deposition Process for Biomedical Applications

The Hydroxyapatite (HAp) particles with various unique morphologies are synthesized by a hydrothermal method. The hydrothermal-synthesized HAp particles have different oriented growth mainly along the c- or a, b-axes, as revealed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and Lotgering factor calculation. The various unique morphologies, involving whisker, sheet, and rod as a result of the orientation growth, are clearly revealed by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations. Furthermore, the hydrothermally-synthesized HAp particles are used to fabricate HAp coatings onto the surface of titanium plate by the electrophoresis deposition process (EPD) process. The fabricated HAp coatings have various microstructures like bird-nest, brick-building, and wave-pattern, with achieving an aim of controllable design for microstructure, and present the uniform layer surface and strong adhesion. Therefore, these various microstructured HAp coatings would be expected to meet high versatility in functional requirements for biomedical applications by utilizing their various unique microstructures. (C) 2019 The Electrochemical Society.