Synthesis, characterization and gas sensing property of hydroxyapatite ceramic

Hydroxyapatite (HAp) biomaterial ceramic was synthesized by three different processing routes viz. wet chemical process, microwave irradiation process, and hydrothermal technique. The synthesized ceramic powders were characterized by SEM, XRD, FTIR and XPS techniques. The dielectric measurements were carried out as a function of frequency at room temperature and the preliminary study on CO gas sensing property of hydroxyapatite was investigated. The XRD pattern of the hydroxyapatite biomaterial revealed that hydroxyapatite ceramic has hexagonal structure. The average crystallite size was found to be in the range 31–54 nm. Absorption bands corresponding to phosphate and hydroxyl functional groups, which are characteristic of hydroxyapatite, were confirmed by FTIR. The dielectric constant was found to vary in the range 9–13 at room temperature. Hydroxyapatite can be used as CO gas sensor at an optimum temperature near 125°C. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic studies showed the Ca/P ratio of 1.63 for the HAp sample prepared by chemical process. The microwave irradiation technique yielded calcium rich HAp whereas calcium deficient HAp was obtained by hydrothermal method.