In situ hybridization and characterization of fibrous hydroxyapatite/chitosan nanocomposite

Nano‐fibrous hydroxyapatite/chitosan (HA/CS) composites with HA contents of 0–70 wt % were prepared by in situ hybridization with a preprepared chitosan film as semipermeable membrane to slow down the hybridization process. The phase composition, microstructure, and morphology of the composites were characterized by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy. It was found that the in situ prepared inorganic phase was hydroxyapatite nano‐fibers that were uniformly dispersed in the chitosan matrix. The average diameter of the fibers were about 3 nm, while the length of the fibers increases from 20 to 60 nm when the hydroxyapatite content increased from 10 to 70 wt %. The compressive strength and Young's modulus of these nano‐fibrous HA/CS composites increased with the increasing HA content and reached the highest values of 170 and 1.7 GPa, respectively, at the HA content of 50–70 wt %, which were much higher than the values of samples prepared by coprecipitation. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012