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Characterizing inorganic crystals grown on organic self‐assembled bilayers with scanning probe and electron microscopies
Author(s) -
Prado Mariana C.,
Archanjo Braulio S.,
Vasconcelos Thiago L.,
Ladeira Luiz O.,
Neves Bernardo R. A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
microscopy research and technique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1097-0029
pISSN - 1059-910X
DOI - 10.1002/jemt.22297
Subject(s) - scanning electron microscope , chemical engineering , materials science , agglomerate , titanium , nucleation , aqueous solution , self assembly , titanium oxide , bilayer , inorganic chemistry , nanotechnology , chemistry , membrane , organic chemistry , composite material , metallurgy , engineering , biochemistry
Combined microscopy techniques are used to establish the usability of phosphonic acid layers as promoters of hydroxyapatite (HAp) growth. Using spread coating, octadecylphosphonic acid (OPA) self‐assembled bilayers are delivered to the thin natural oxide layer of a titanium film surface with no prior treatment. These bilayers aggregate two major advantages of phosphonic moieties to titanium surfaces: nucleation of hydroxyapatite crystals from ionic solution and affinity for both titanium oxide surface and HAp crystals. The functionalized substrates and bare titanium (control) samples are immersed in an aqueous solution containing calcium and phosphorus ions. Over a 4‐week immersion time, OPA‐functionalized substrates present numerous large agglomerates of inorganic crystals, in contrast to control samples, with no significant amount of deposits. Initial sample characterization was performed with atomic force microscopy (AFM). Compositional and structural characterization of these agglomerates (using TEM, EDS, and electron diffraction), revealed that they are indeed HAp, the main component of the inorganic bone matrix. Microsc. Res. Tech. 76:1278–1283, 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.