Utilization of biowaste eggshells to synthesize nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite powders

Nano hydroxyapatite (HA) powder was successfully synthesized from biowaste chicken eggshells. The nanopowders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), particle size distribution (PSD) analyzer, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) techniques. Selected area electron diffraction (SAED) analysis during TEM showed the particles to be polycrystalline in nature. The resulting HA powder exhibited an average size of ~ 35 nm with a narrowly distributed particle size range from 5 to 90 nm. XRD and FT-IR analysis showed that the powders produced were of high purity. The present study provides a simple sol-gel precipitation method to obtain nano HA powders of high purity from biowaste chicken eggshells. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved