Hydrothermal synthesis of biocompatible whiskers

Abstract

The preparation of non-toxic and biocompatible fibres or whiskers is one of the most urgent tasks today, because most of the fibrous materials which have been used (including asbestos which has been used for many years) are thought to be biohazardous. Whiskers of hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2:HAp), which is expected to be one of the best biocompatible materials, have been successfully synthesized by hydrothermal treatments of beta-tricalcium phosphate (beta-Ca3(PO4)2: beta-TCP) with citric acid. These whiskers were single crystals, elongated along the c-axis, with a length of 20-30 μm and a width of 0.1-1 μm. They were slightly calcium deficient (Ca/P molar ratio = 1.63) and they contained a trace of CO32-in their structure. © 1994 Chapman & Hall.