Fabrication of mesoporous carbonated hydroxyapatite microspheres by hydrothermal method

Mesoporous carbonated hydroxyapatite microspheres (MCHMs) have been converted from calcium carbonate microspheres (CCMs) by hydrothermal method. After soaking the CCMs in disodium hydrogen phosphate solutions, carbonated hydroxyapatite nanoparticles are formed via a dissolution–precipitation reaction. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) reveal that the as-obtained samples are calcium deficient hydroxyapatite with B-type CO32− substitution. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicates that the MCHMs are composed of many nanoparticles within the whole microspheres. These nanoparticles aggregate to form mesopores with a pore size of 4.5–14.0 nm among them. The formation mechanism of MHAMs has been discussed.