Influence of an organic and an inorganic additive on the crystallization of dicalcium phosphate dihydrate

Dicalcium phosphate dihydrate (DCPD) was crystallized by single diffusion method under physiological pH, in the presence of cobalt and malic acid. The morphology, composition and microstructure of the grown crystals were analyzed using EDTA titration, UV-Visible, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). These analyses showed that the grown crystals were Co2+-doped DCPD. The temperature has influenced the dopant entry into DCPD crystals, but the dopant content and temperature were having not much influence on the crystal morphology. In pathological crystallization, the size and morphology are very important since they decide the mode of treatment to adopt. The morphological changes arise when the growth assay is doped with cobalt and malic acid. The effect of malic acid on the crystallization was highly specific, adsorbing on certain crystal faces during growth and producing different morphologies. At higher concentration, the morphology showed a feature frequently encountered in biomineralization, the orientational ordering in [0 0 1], leading to elongated crystals.