Synthesis and characterization of calcium phosphate nanoparticles and effect of the agitation type on particles morphology

This paper reports a rapid, economic and efficient process to prepare calcium phosphate nanoparticles (nFC), also known as hydroxyapatite. The objective of this study was to synthesize, characterize and determine the effect of the agitation type on the production and morphology of nFC. The synthesis was carried out by wet chemical precipitation, with mechanical and magnetic agitation. TEM microscopy indicates that mechanical agitation produced ~ 33% particles with diameter between 15-20 nm, while magnetic stirring formed 29% (12.12% less). The sizes range obtained for both agitations types was 10 to 45 nm, with the predominant size being 15 to 20 nm. The FTIR spectrometry analysis revealed that the nFC obtained are analogous to those reported in the literature. Ζeta potential values of -20 mV to -14 mV were obtained for mechanical and magnetic agitation respectively, suggesting that nFC synthesized by mechanical agitation is more stable in solution. The results obtained reveal that mechanical agitation improves the characteristics of the nanocomposite, so this technique should be validated. We consider that the process reported here could be scalable to produce nFC, which has commercial potential as a nanofertilizer for the agricultural sector.

Keywords: Agronanotechnolgy, characterization, nanoparticles, nanofertilizer.