Novel synthesis strategy for composite hydrogel of collagen/hydroxyapatite-microsphere originating from conversion of CaCO 3 templates

Inspired by coralline-derived hydroxyapatite, we designed a methodological route to synthesize carbonated-hydroxyapatite microspheres from the conversion of CaCO 3 spherulite templates within a collagen matrix under mild conditions and thus constructed the composite hydrogel of collagen/hydroxyapatite-microspheres. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) were employed to confirm the successful generation of the carbonated hydroxyapatite phase originating from CaCO 3 , and the ratios of calcium to phosphate were tracked over time. Variations in the weight portion of the components in the hybrid gels before and after the phase transformation of the CaCO 3 templates were identified via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows these composite hydrogels have a unique multiscale microstructure consisting of a collagen nanofibril network and hydroxyapatite microspheres. The relationship bet...

Qingrong Wei, Jian Lu, Qiaoying Wang, Hongsong Fan and Xingdong Zhang

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