Original Articles
Lokesh Kumar and Anupama Kaush
Abstract
The surface morphology of hydroxyapatite (HAp) was transformed into nano-sheets of rectangular shape by grafting the triethanolamine (TEA). The reaction was carried out using a precipitation method. The prepared HAp nano sheets were characterized using different techniques such as SEM, TEM, FTIR, XRD and WD-XRF in order to observe morphological, compositional and structural characteristics of newly formed HAp nano sheets. XRD analysis shows that the structure of HA remains almost unchanged with a slight effect on its crystallinity. The presence of TEA on to the HAp surface was also confirmed by the FTIR technique. SEM and TEM techniques depicted presence of TEA at HAp surface has significantly changed its overall morphology. The combined estimation of FTIR and WD-XRF studies however revealed a strong interaction between the grafted TEA molecules and surface groups of HAp. The grafting did not affect the pristine structure of HAp and stoichiometry of its Ca/P group. Further, the approximation of contact angle of HAp nano-sheets exhibited a strong hygroscopic tendency of this nano material.