Nanohydroxyapatite–chitosan–gelatin polyelectrolyte complex with enhanced mechanical and bioactivity

•Nanohydroxyapatite/chitosan–gelatin composite processing through the wet-chemical method.•Deals interaction between Ca2 +, PO43 − of HAp and COO−, NH4+ of gelatin & chitosan.•Particle exhibits nanorod like morphology with a size of 45.93 to 30.75 nm.•Composite shows enhanced biological and mechanical properties.

A wet chemical approach was used to synthesis HAp–chitosan–gelatin nanocomposites at different wt.% of chitosan–gelatin (CG) ratios such as CG-00, CG-40, CG-31, CG-22, CG-13 and CG-04. XRD analysis confirms the formation of HAp on nanocomposite matrix and the decreased crystallite size was found with the decrease in chitosan and increase in gelatin compositions. FTIR study reveals that the presence of characteristic bands of HAp and CG. The decrease in chitosan in CG leads to band shift of organic phase towards a higher wave number side due to the intimate bonding with an inorganic phase. FE-SEM images show that the particles had a short nanorod-like morphology. The bioresorbability and microhardness test indicate that the composites have better resorbability and hardness than pure HAp. It was inferred that particle size, morphology, resorbability and hardness of the composite can be altered by tuning the composition.

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