One-pot synthesis of HA-coated gelatin microspheres by an emulsion method

A one-pot strategy was firstly presented in this paper to prepare gelatin-hydroxyapatite (HA) composite microspheres with a core-shell structure in an inverse emulsion. The FT-IR and XRD analysis confirmed the unique formation of HA on the surface of the gelatin microspheres. The deposited HA particles of about 50 nm in size were found to be approximately spherical in morphology and poorly crystallized. When the weight ratio of HA to gelatin was less than 1:4, most of the HA particles were precipitated on the surface of the gelatin spheres to form a homogeneous coating of about 100 nm in thickness. Moreover, the resulting core-shell composite microspheres had a good dispersity and displayed a particle size distribution of 5-40 μm.