Problem of hydroxyapatite dispersion in polymer matrices: a review

This review summarizes recent work on manufacturing biocomposites suitable for bone tissue engineering. There is a great need to engineer multi-phase (i.e. composite) materials that combine the advantages exhibited by each component of the material, with a structure and composition similar to that of natural bone. The discussion concentrates on the preparation of nanocomposites containing hydroxyapatite particles (one of the most widely used bioceramics materials) with polymer matrices. Special attention is paid to the preparation of nanocomposites with individual (non-aggregated) nanoparticles because this is a key problem in nanotechnology industrialization. Controlling the mixing between so two dissimilar phases is a critical challenge in the design of these inorganic-organic systems. Several approaches that may be applied to overcome this problem will be described in this review.