Effect of Surfactant on Morphology of Hydroxyapatite

Abstract

Hydroxyapatite powders have been synthesized by precipitation method in calcium hydroxide and phosphoric acid system. During the experiment, polyethylene glycol and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide were used as surfactants, respectively. The production was characterized by X-ray diffraction, infrared spectra spectrometer, transmission electronic microscopy, and scanning electronic microscopy. The results show that the aggregation of as-synthesized powders without using surfactant cannot be avoided. Alternatively, CTAB can reduce aggregation of HA particles but polyethylene glycol cannot. Meanwhile, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide can also regulate the crystallization process and thus reduce the particle size of HA powders.

Keywords:

• synthesis
• surfactant
• nano materials
• hydroxyapatite