Synthesis and characterization of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles and their application in protein adsorption

Hydroxyapatite (HAp) is a bioceramic material used to decrease the operatory time for bone trauma fixing, protein purification, prosthetic covering, and complementing the consolidation and substitution in bone solutions since this material works in favor of the bone neoformation when it is in touch with the physiological tissue. In this work the hydrothermal method, by using a starting solution containing hydrate dipotassium hydrogen phosphate, K2HPO4·3H2O, and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, CTAB, dissolved in deionized water was employed to synthesize HAp nanoparticles with sizes between 15 and 60 nm, high policrystallinity and Ca/P and Ca/O ratios close to the theoretical. The synthesized HAp particles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Pellets with a diameter of 5 mm and weight of 150 mg were used to support the fibrinogen (FGN) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) adsorption (0.15, 0.7, and 1.5 mg/ml) studies. The protein adsorption studies were carried out via atomic force microscopy (AFM).