Microstructure, Corrosion Resistance and Wettability of Hydroxyapatite and Silver-Doped Hydroxyapatite

Abstract

In recent years, synthesis and characterization of Ag-based materials has become an active area of research due to its application in medical area for having antimicrobial properties useful for prosthetic replacement. Pure HydroxyAPatite (HAP) and 1.5wt% Ag-doped HydroxyAPatite (AgHAP) were prepared by sol-gel process and characterized. Ca(NO3)2.4H2O was used as source of Ca precursor, P2O5 was used as a source of P precursor, and AgNO3 has been used as a source of Ag precursor. Pellets of HAP and AgHAP were made after precipitates were consolidated, dried in oven, grounded and sintered in a muffle furnace. Functional groups were determined using FTIR, and compound formations were investigated using XRD. Microstructural analysis was done using SEM and AFM. Wettability was studied using OCA in distilled water, and corrosion resistance and impedance analyses were carried out using ECA in Ringer solution. It was observed from AFM and XRD that grain size decreased from 7.05 ?m to 1.25 ?m. Improvement in corrosion resistance was observed in AgHAP. Wettability studies showed that AgHAP is more hydrophilic in comparison with pure HAP. A correlation between microstructures and properties of hydroxyapetites are discussed in this paper.