Inhibition mechanism of aspartic acid on crystal growth of hydroxyapatite

The effects of aspartic acid on the crystal growth, morphology of hydroxyapatite(HAP) crystal were investigated, and the inhibition mechanism of aspartic acid on the crystal growth of hydroxyapatite was studied. The results show that the crystal growth rate of HAP decreases with the increase of the aspartic acid concentration, and the HAP crystal is thinner significantly compared with that without amino acid, which is mainly due to the (10 $1 0) surface of HAP crystal being inhibited by the aspartic acids. The calculation analysis indicates that the crystal growth mechanism of HAP, following surface diffusion controlled mechanism, is not changed due to the presence of aspartic acid. AFM result shows that the front of terrace on vicinal growth hillocks is pinned, which suggests that the aspartic acid is adsorbed onto the (10 $1 0) surface of HAP and interacts with the Ca2+ ions of HAP surface, so as to block the growth active sites and result in retarding of the growth of HAP crystal.