Preparation and morphology of porous nanocalcium phosphate/poly(L-lactic acid) composites

Biodegradable porous materials can serve as a scaffold in tissue engineering. In this work, highly porous nano-calcium phosphate (NCP)/poly(L-lactic acid)(PLLA) composites were prepared by a thermally induced phase separation technique. Five calcium phosphates with different biodegradation rate were selected, i.e. amorphous calcium phosphate, a-tricalcium phosphate, P-tricalcium phosphate and biphasic alpha/beta-tricalcium phosphate. The results showed that the NCP particles could be homogenously incorporated into pore walls; the composites had a porosity of -90%, and a pore size of similar to 200 mu m. From the point of view of materials science, the obtained porous NCP/PLLA composites demonstrate to have a capability of applying in bone tissue engineering.