Hydrothermal growth of hydroxyapatite metal oxide nanocomposites for hard tissue engineering

Abstract

Biomaterials are natural or synthetic substance which can be introduced into body tissue as part of an implanted medical device or used to replace an organ in a living organism. Biomaterials may be of metals, composites, ceramics, polymers which possess biological properties such as bio-inertness, bioactivity, biodegradability and bioresorbability. Among the different class of biomaterials, ceramic materials have great impact on tissue newlineengineering, orthopaedics and dental applications. Nanoscale biomaterials attract more attention due to its high surface to volume ratio, which enables enhanced biomolecular interaction in the prosthetic devices and implants. Among the nanoscale ceramic biomaterials, calcium phosphate emerges as a promising material for bone substitutes and dental fillings. Hydroxyapatite (HAp) is a calcium phosphate based ceramic materials (Ca/P ratio 1.67) which possess excellent biological properties like bioactivity, newlinebiocompatibility and osteo-conductivity. However, high brittleness and high thermal processing of these materials limits its application in hard tissue engineering. Studies on addition of biocompatible metal oxides such as Alumina (Al2O3), Zirconia (ZrO2) and Zinc Oxide (ZnO) with HAp provides significant effect on the enhancement of biomolecular interactions in biomedical implants. Several synthesis methods were employed for the preparation of nanocomposites with high mechanical stability and excellent biocompatibility. newline newline