Biomineralizing synthesis of mesoporous hydroxyapatite–calcium pyrophosphate polycrystal using ovalbumin as biosurfactant

Mesoporous polycrystals of hydroxyapatite–calcium pyrophosphate (HA–CPP) are synthesized via a biomineralizing route using ovalbumin as natural biosurfactant. The mesoporous structure of HA–CPP is characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms (NADI), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atom force microscopy (AFM), polarization microscopy (PLM) and stereomicroscopy. The results show that the crystalline grains with an average diameter of 13.2 nm are uniformly distributed along the protein molecule chains, and this results in microsphere-like particles with diameters of 200–300 nm. The highly ordered pores involved in microspheres are found to be approximately 6.6 nm by small-angle XRD. The formation of lyotropic calcium liquid crystal (CLC) plays a key role in the formation and stabilization of the mesoporous structure. A schematic illustration is used to reveal the mechanism of protein-medicated HA–CPP biomineralization, which employs the protein tertiary structure to explain the formation of the porous particles.