Fabrication of Hydroxyapatite/Cellulose Fiber Composite with Sheet-Like Structure

Natural bone is a complex material with well-designed architecture. To achieve successful bone integration and regeneration, the constituent and structure of bone-repairing scaffolds need to be flexible and biocompatible. HAp, as the main composition of bone minerals, has excellent biocompatibility, while CMC comprised of a three-dimensional network were high flexibility. Therefore, CMC/HAp composite have been attracted attention due to the development of bone tissue engineering. In this work, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)/hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2; HAp) composite have been developed as three-dimensional scaffold for bone tissue engineering. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the CMC/HAp composite have sheet-like structure. The amount of precipitated HAp of CMC/HAp composite was investigated using Thermogravimetric analysis. The amount of precipitated HAp in products prepared with 100 mg CMC was 49.8 wt%, while the amount of precipitated HAp in products prepared with 1000 mg CMC was 22.3 wt%. These results revealed that the amount of precipitated HAp in CMC/HAp composite was affected by CMC amount as prepared.