Synthesis and characterization of calcium phosphate nanoparticles and effect of the agitation type on particles morphology

Abstract

This paper reports a rapid, economic and efficient process to prepare calcium phosphate nanoparticles (nCF), also known as hydroxyapatite. The objective of this study was to synthesize, characterize and determine the effect of agitation type on production and morphology of nCF. Synthesis was carried out by wet chemical precipitation, with mechanical and magnetic agitation. TEM microscopy indicates that mechanical agitation produced ∼ 27% particles with diameter between 15-20 nm, while magnetic stirring formed 31.1%. The sizes range obtained for both agitations types was 10 to 45 nm, with the predominant size being 15 to 20 nm. The FTIR spectrometry analysis revealed that the nCF obtained are analogous to those reported in the literature. Zeta potential values of -20 mV to -14 mV were obtained for mechanical and magnetic agitation respectively, suggesting that nCF synthesized by mechanical agitation has greater electrostatic repulsion in aqueous suspension. The results obtained reveal that mechanical stirring improves the nanocomposite characteristics and produce colloidal particles more stable in aqueous suspension. We consider that the process reported here could be scalable to produce nCF, which has commercial potential as a nanofertilizer for agricultural use.