Effect of Nickel Ferrite Addition on Characteristics of Nanostructured Nickel Ferrite/Hydroxyapatite Ceramic

Abstract A composite ceramic of hydroxyapatite (HAp) and nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) has application potential in bone tissue regeneration and heavy metal adsorption. In this present work, the nanostructured NiFe2O4/HAp ceramic was successfully fabricated through a simple preparation technique using chicken eggshells as a calcium source. Characteristics of the composites were investigated for various NiFe2O4/HAp weight ratios from 2-10 wt%. The XRD results indicated no other impurity phase formations, illustrating the stability of the occurred HAp and NiFe2O4 phases. Phase fractions of NiFe2O4 were found to increase from 12.12 to 22.38 wt% with increasing NiFe2O4. FT-IR results revealed the interaction of HAp and NiFe2O4 structures in composite ceramics, further supported with varying of the lattice parameter and the crystallite size. Magnetization of composite was shown to increase from 0.26 to 2.08 emu/g with increasing NiFe2O4. SEM and BET results revealed nanosized morphology with the enhancement of porosity and interconnectivity when increasing NiFe2O4.