SYNTHESIS AND STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MAGNESIUM AND ZINC DOPED HYDROXYAPATITE WHISKERS

Mg and Zn doped hydroxyapatite whiskers were successfully prepared by hydrothermal homogeneous precipitation using amide additives. The morphology and structure of the products were characterized using SEM, XRD, and FTIR. It was shown that all samples prepared using < 10 % mol.l(-1) Mg or Zn ions were identified as HA. Further increasing their concentration gave rise to the appearance of the second phase. The Mg or Zn doped HA whiskers had a length of 60 - 110 mu m and aspect ratio of 30 - 50, when the concentration of Mg or Zn ions were < 5 mol. %. Substitution of Mg or Zn impaired the crystallization of HA whiskers and led to changes in the morphology, lattice parameters and XRD peaks diffraction position, which demonstrated that Mg or/and Zn ions were incorporated into the unit cell of HA, rather than just absorption on the surface of the whiskers.