Effect of surfactant concentrations on pore characteristics of mesoporous carbonated Hydroxyapatite prepared by soft-templating hydrothermal method

Mesoporous carbonated hydroxyapatite is a promised material for the application in drug delivery. Mesoporous carbonated hydroxyapatite (CHA) was synthesised through a hydrothermal co-precipitation method using different concentration (1.7, 7, 10 and 14 mM) of non-ionic surfactant P123 as a pores template. The crystalline phase, chemical composition, morphology and pore size distribution of mesoporous CHA were analysed using various materials characterisation techniques. The presence of mesopores as an array of pore channels in the synthesised sample were confirmed using transmission electron microscope. The optimum pore characteristics (i.e. surface area = 78 m2g-1, pore size = 27 nm and pore volume = 0.542 nm) of mesoporous CHA was obtained when surfactant concentration (1.7 mM) was maintained closed to critical micelle concentration (CMC), 0.0044 mM.