Porous biphasic scaffolds and coatings for biomedical applications via morphology transition of nanorods

Abstract

Scaffolds based on calcium phosphates are ideally suited for bone tissue engineering applications. Here, we report a novel method to prepare biphasic calcium phosphate blocks and porous coatings via a morphology transition of anisotropic nanostructured hydroxyapatite. Size-controlled hydroxyapatite nanowhiskers have been synthesized by a hydrothermal method. Heating an assembly of these nanowhiskers leads to the formation of porous biphasic structures in a single step. Structural and microstructural characterization has been carried out using XRD, SEM and TEM. A BET surface area analyzer has been used to determine the surface area resulting from the porous structure. The formation mechanism of these structures is discussed. The present method also opens up possibilities to synthesize nanoporous structures of other functional inorganic materials.