The Growth of Silver Nanoparticles and Their Combination with Hydroxyapatite To Form Composites via a Sonochemical Approach

A new approach for the synthesis of silver (Ag) nanoparticles and their combination with hydroxyapatite (HAp) to form composites via a sonochemical process has been developed. The Ag particles, obtained using a nitrate precursor, are cubic in structure, spherical in shape, and up to 20 nm in size. The use of precursors with a lower temperature of thermal decomposition (acetates and lactates) results in a change of the morphological and structural properties, resulting in the formation of both hexagonal and cubic Ag phases. In the case of the HAp/Ag composites investigated in this study, both the structural and morphological properties of the Ag nanoparticles were affected by the templating effect of the HAp. The formation mechanism and growth of the Ag particles on their own and within a HAp/Ag composite are discussed in terms of the sonification process and the thermal reduction steps used.