Low-temperature synthesis of porous hydroxyapatite scaffolds using polyaphron templates

A method to synthesize porous hydroxyapatite (HA) structures at a low temperature was investigated in this study. Polyaphrons, a class of high-internal-phase-ratio emulsions were used as the shape-directing template for the sol-gel reactions that facilitated the formation of the structures. Electron micrographs revealed a three dimensional porous structure with pore sizes in the range of 1–5 microns. X-ray diffraction images showed that the hydroxyapatite structure formed after treatment at 400°C matched exactly with commercial HA spectra indicating that the phase transformation was complete. IR spectra of the samples confirm the formation of the structural components characteristic of commercial HA.