SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF Ag-SUPPORTED HYDROXYLAPATITE-y-Fe203 NANOCOMPOSITES (AgHAP-v-Fe203

Abstract

A magnetic hydroxyapatite-'y-Fe203 (HAP-y-Fe203) nanocomposite and silver supported hydroxyapatite-y-Fe203 nanocomposites have been synthesized by using the co-precipitation method. These samples have been characterized using advanced analytical tools viz. X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), Scanning and Transmission electron microcopy (FESEM and TEM), Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Fourier transform infra—red spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and W-visible spectroscopy. XRD analysis of HAP-y-Fe203 nanocomposite demonstrated it to contain HAP and y-Fe2O3 phase with hexagonal and k tetragonal structure. TEM analysis of these nanocomposites by TEM demonstrated the formation of nanorods of a length of 13 nm and width 5 nm containing pores along with spherical nanoparticles with an average diameter of 5 nm. The size of these nanorods and their morphology could also be verified by FESEM and AFM analysis. The XRD analysis of Ag supported HAP-'y-Fe203 nanocomposites indicated the presence of HAP, ,y-Fe203 and Ag phases having hexagonal, tetragonal and cubic structures respectively. XPS analysis supported the presence of Fe as Fe203 and Ag phases in this nanocomposite. VSM studies indicated the transformation in the magnetic behaviour from ferromagnetic in case of HAP-y-Fe203 and superparamagnetic for the AgHAP-y-Fe203 samples. Moreover, this transformation was associated with an enhancement of saturated magnetization value for the later sample by increasing the amount of Ag by about 100% upon increasing the concentration of Ag by 5 fold. An interaction between HAP- 'y-Fe203 and Ag phase is revealed by FT-IR analysis which exhibited a blue shift of Fe-O stretching in the presence of colloidal Ag.