Expansion of nanosized pores in low-crystallinity nanoparticle-assembled plates via a thermally induced increase in solid-state density

•The pore size in hydroxyapatite ceramics was controlled via a thermal treatment.•The pore size could be controlled from 7.9 nm to 250 nm.•This method requires no pore generation agents such as micelle templates and porogens.

We investigated thermally induced changes in a low-crystallinity hydroxyapatite (HAp)-nanoparticle-assembled plate containing nanosized pores. We first prepared an aqueous dispersion of low-crystallinity HAp nanoparticles (particle size, 48 nm) via a wet chemical process and then prepared the nanoparticle-assembled plate by drying the dispersion on an oil substrate to prevent crack formation. Before the plates were subjected to heat treatments, they contained 7.9-nm-sized pores because of the gap between the nanoparticles, and their porosity was 60%. After the heat treatments (600–1100 °C) were performed for 1 h, the solid-state density determined using helium pycnometry increased from 2.85 to 3.21 g/cm3, and the pore size increased from 7.9 to 250 nm. These results indicate that the pore size expanded because of increases in crystallinity and density, despite the large decrease in the total volume because of thermally induced sintering of the nanoparticles.

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