Abstract:The role of self-assembled monolayer in inducing the crystal growth was investigated by X-ray diffractions (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results show that crystallization in the absence of monolayer results in a mixture of poorly crystallized calcium phosphates, including hydroxyapatite (HAP) and octacalcium phosphate (OCP), while the presence of self-assembled monolayer gives rise to oriented and well crystallized HAP crystals. Moreover, the HAP crystal grows very quickly under the self-assembled monolayer, whereas very little calcium phosphate crystals grow without the monolayer. It is rationalized that the hexadecylamine monolayer with high polarity and charged density leads to increase supersaturation and lower the interfacial energy, which attributes to the HAP crystals nucleation. On the other hand, the positive headgroups construct the ordered “recognized site” with distinct size and topology, which results in the oriented HAP crystals deposit.

Key words:  hydroxyapatite; self-assembled monolayer; crystal growth; controlled crystallization