Microwave-assisted facile synthesis of mono-dispersed Ba/Ho co-doped nanohydroxyapatite for potential application as binary CT imaging contrast agent

It is appealing to develop a facile way to prepare a binary CT contrast agent with good biocompatibility and CT contrast efficiency for potential clinical applications. In this work, a novel binary CT contrast agent based on the biocompatible nano-hydroxyapatite (nHAp, the main inorganic component of human bone and teeth) was prepared facilely and rapidly through doping two kinds of CT contrast ions (Ba2+ and Ho3+) into the nHAp host via microwave-assisted synthesis. The Ba/Ho co-doped nHAp with pure nHAp phase composition and good mono-dispersion was obtained simply with microwave heating for 30 min. The as prepared CT contrast agent is very promising as a novel binary CT contrast agent for CT imaging.