Comparative investigation of porous nano-hydroxyapaptite/chitosan, nano-zirconia/chitosan and novel nano-calcium zirconate/chitosan composite scaffolds for their potential applications in bone regeneration

Abstract Zirconium (Zr) based bioceramic nanoparticles, as the filler material to chitosan (CS), for the development of composite scaffolds are less studied compared to hydroxyapatite nanoparticles. This is predominantly due to the biological similarity of nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA; Ca 10 (PO 4 ) 6 (OH) 2 ) with bone inorganic component. In this study, we compared the physical and biological properties of CS composite scaffolds hybridized with nHA, nano-zirconia (nZrO; ZrO 2 ), and nano-calcium zirconate (nCZ; CaZrO 3 ). For the first time in this study, the properties of CS-nCZ composite scaffolds have been reported. The porous composite scaffolds were developed using the freeze-drying technique. The compressive strength and modulus were in the range of 50–55 KPa and 0.75–0.95 MPa for composite scaffolds, significantly higher (p