Nanostructured Hydroxyapatite from Hen's Eggshells Using Sucrose as a Template

The nanostructured hydroxyapatite (HAp) was synthesized by precipitation from aqueous phase, using hen's eggshells and different sucrose concentrations. The XRD results confirmed the formation of HAp, with crystallite size of about 15-22 nm. The SEM and TEM characterization showed morphological changes when increasing the amount of sucrose used, with the tendency to form spheroidal particles. The specific surface area increases from 36 to 93 m(2).g(-1) as the amount of sucrose used increases. Our results indicated that sucrose can be used as a promising additive/template, easy to obtain at low cost. In addition to contributing to the recycling of this biowaste (eggshells), the synthesized HAp has the potential to be used in bone tissue engineering applications, since the samples were no cytotoxicity to dental pulp stem cells in the in vitro assessment by resazurin assay.