Enhanced magnetic performance and in‐vitro apatite‐forming ability of the CoFe2O4 doped nano‐hydroxyapatite porous bioceramics

In this research, the bioceramics system of nano-hydroxyapatite-cobalt ferrite or Ca10 (PO4)6 (OH)2 /xCoFe2 O4 (HAP/xCF), where x = 0-3 vol%, were studied. The effect of CF concentration on phase evolution, physical, microstructure, mechanical, and magnetic properties as well as the in-vitro apatite-forming ability and cell culture analysis of the HAP ceramic was investigated. XRD revealed that all HAP/xCF ceramics showed high purity of hydroxyapatite with calcium and phosphate. However, the peak of the CF phase is noted for the HAP + 3 vol% CF ceramic. The densification and mechanical properties (HV, HK, σc , and σf ) decreased with increasing the CF additive, which correlated to all HAP/xCF ceramics exhibited porous structure with increasing the percentage of porosity. The average grain size also increased with increasing the CF content. An improvement of magnetic behavior, which increasing of the Mr , Hc , and μB values, was obtained for the higher CF ceramics. In-vitro apatite-forming ability test suggested that the HAP + 3 vol% CF porous ceramic has a good apatite-forming ability. The cell culture analysis indicated that the proliferation of cells was above 97% for the HAP + 3 vol% CF porous ceramic, which means that the prepared ceramic is biocompatible. Based on the obtained results indicated that these ceramics are promising biomedical application candidates. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: We fabricated the HAP/xCF ceramics by a simple solid-state reaction method. The addition of CF into HAP exhibited magnetic improvement and produced the porous ceramic, which caused good apatite-forming ability. The cell culture analysis indicated that the HAP + 3 vol% CF ceramic is biocompatible.