Effects of polymer concentration on the morphology of calcium phosphate crystals formed in polyacrylamide hydrogels

Growing crystals in hydrogels is an attractive method to form inorganic solids with designed morphology under ambient conditions. Precipitation of the inorganic solids in a hydrogel matrix can be regarded as mimicking the process of biomineralization. In the construction of biominerals, an organic template composed of insoluble macromolecules is used to control the crystal growth of the inorganic compounds. The morphological control in biomineralization can be applied to artificial reaction systems. In this study, the morphology of calcium phosphate crystals formed in polymeric hydrogels of various polymer concentrations was investigated. Spherical octacalcium phosphate (OCP) precipitated in the polyacrylamide (PAAm) hydrogels. Fibrous crystals gradually covered the surface of the spherical crystals as the polymer concentration of the gel increased. The morphology of the OCP crystals changed from sea urchin shapes to wool-ball shapes with increasing PAAm concentration. The morphological change is generated by the template effect of the polymer wall, which is made up of stacked PAAm sheets, surrounding the spherical OCP crystals.