Mesoporous calcium phosphate bionanomaterials with controlled morphology by an energy-efficient microwave method

Calcium phosphate nanomaterials with controllable morphology and mesostructure were synthesized via a rapid and energy efficient microwave method. An increase in aspect ratio from nanoplates to nanorods was achieved by increasing the solvent chain length, accompanied by a subsequent about 23% increase in surface area and porosity. Control of mesoporosity was also achieved by varying the synthesis time and quantity of H2O in the reaction solvent. Comparative studies were carried out using conventional heating (CON) and room temperature co-precipitation (RT) methods. It was found that microwave synthesis produces nanomaterials with about 50% higher yields, 7.5/1.7 times higher surface area and 3/5 times higher pore volume than RT/CON materials respectively, as well as having a lower distribution of particle size/shape (lower standard deviation values of their dimensions). Furthermore, in vitro protein loading tests of microwave synthesized mesoporous calcium phosphate materials showed an enhanced loading efficiency of bovine serum albumin (3–7 times), as compared with non-mesostructured products from room temperature precipitation, in accordance with their larger surface area and porosity