Hydrothermal Preparation of Hydroxyapatite/Chitosan Nanocomposites via In Situ Precipitation
The cylindrical chitosan (CS)/hydroxyapatite (HA) nanocomposites were hydrothermally prepared via in situ precipitation and characterized by x-ray diffractometer (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), thermogravimetry (TG) and scanning electronic microscope (SEM). The results show that the as-prepared products are composed of CS and low-crystalline HA phases, and some extent of interaction between CS and HA phases exists in the composites, which is greatly influenced by the temperature and pH value in the hydrothermal process. The crystal size of HA uniform-distributed in CS matrix is calculated to be no larger than 100nm while the crystallinity of CA is greatly increased in the hydrothermal process, which is beneficial to the mechanical properties of the composites. It is proposed that the nano-structure of HA/CS composite will have the better biomedical properties in the biomaterials applications.