A complementary contribution to piezoelectricity from bone constituents

In the light of the recent theoretic predictions and experimental evidences of piezoelectricity in synthetic hydroxyapatite, the analogue of the mineral component in bone, this study revisits the question of piezoelectricity in the two major constituents of bone: apatite and collagen. Structural and electromechanical properties have been studied at high lateral resolution on compact bovine femur, which has further been extracted to obtain the organic matrix (collagen fibres) and the inorganic matrix (apatite nanocrystals). X-ray data analyses by Rietveld method indicates the presence of piezoelectric phase in bone apatite. While piezoresponse has been detected in bone collagen and apatite, the response in bone apatite is still inconclusive.