Facile Synthesis of Element‐Substituted Hydroxyapatite Whiskers Using α‐Tricalcium Phosphate as Precursors

In the absence of any surfactants, organic solvents or structure-directing reagents, the cation- and anion-substituted HAp whiskers, and cation-/anion-co-substituted HAp whiskers with controllable substitution amounts were successfully synthesized via hydrothermal treatment of the same precursor of α-TCP in an aqueous solution containing the objective substituted elements. Through regulating the initial ion concentrations of the aqueous solutions, the element substitution level could be well facilely tailored. The cytocompatibility of the products was confirmed by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay using the osteoblast cell line MC3T3-E1. This study provided a facile strategy for the synthesis of element-substituted HAp materials.