Template synthesis of highly ordered hydroxyapatite nanowire arrays

Highly ordered hydroxyapatite (HA) nanowire arrays were synthesized using porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template from sol-gel solution containing P2O5 and Ca(NO3)2. The results of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that the obtained HA nanowires had a uniform length and diameter and formed highly ordered arrays, which were determined by the pore diameter and the thickness of the applied AAO template. The results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) demonstrated that the major component was HA. The selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) results indicated that HA was a polycrystalline structure. This novel method of preparing highly ordered HA nanowires with a large area might be important for many applications in biomaterials. C 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.