Miss Siew Shee Lim is reachable at SiewShee.Lim@nottingham.edu.my
Hydrothermal Synthesis of Biocompatible CaTiO3 Nanoparticles
Synthetic grafts provide the potential for continuous bone healing sources with reasonable production costs compared to autogenous with high harvesting cost and allografts which might cause pathogenic transmission. Particularly, nanostructured CaTiO3, if immobilised on the surfaces of implants, are expected to promote good osteointegration. This research programme aims to demonstrate this expectation by preparation of nanoparticulates of CaTiO3 and test their bioactivity through incubation in simulated human body fluid. In the current work, CaTiO3 nanoparticles were synthesised via a simple hydrothermal process using TiO2 (p25) as the precursor in alkaline media containing calcium salts. The as-prepared powdery materials were washed with distilled water until the pH value became neutral and dried in oven at 50˚C for 24 hours. The dried samples were characterised by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). These analyses confirmed the powdery products from the hydrothermal synthesis to be mostly nanoparticulates of CaTiO3 of about 50 nm in average size. A preliminary investigation of the bioresponsiveness of the obtained samples was carried out by immersion in the simulated human body fluid and incubation at 37˚C for 7, 14 and 28 days. The findings, including an expected layer of hydroxyapatite deposit on the surface of the CaTiO3 nanoparticulates, will be reported.
