Spark plasma sintered HA-ZnO ultrafine composite: Mechanical, bactericidal, and cytocompatibility properties.

Calcium-phosphate based hydroxyapatite (HA) biomaterials are widely being investigated due to their osseointegration property, but those inherently lack antibacterial property. In the present work, wet-chemically synthesized rod-shaped zinc oxide (ZnO) is embedded in HA and its role as antibacterial agent without compromising cytocompatability property is established. In particular, HA-xZnO (x = 0, 5, 10 wt.%) composites were consolidated by spark plasma sintering at 950°C in vacuum. A host of the spectroscopy and microscopy techniques were utilized to analyze the nature of distribution of ZnO as well as surface chemical characteristics. While the bactericidal property is expectedly induced, the elastic modulus as well as cell adhesion property remains uncompromised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]