Abstract

The synthesis of hydroxyapatite on mesoporous silica SBA-15 material and the resulting composite, after a specific thermal treatment, has been followed and studied by electron microscopy. After the synthesis the samples were undergone a double thermal treatment: First the samples were hydrothermally treated from 353 y 393 K in a 10 K range interval during 24 hours; after filtering and drying the materials had a second treatment at 773 K in air during 10 h. The samples were studied using scanning, analytical and transmission electron microscopy. Also STEM and high resolution electron microscopy (HREM) techniques were used to follow the structural evolution at the nanoscale after each thermal treatment. The growth of hydroxiapatite along the tunnels of the mesoporous silica was observed after thermal treatment at 60 and 80 °C being increased with the hydrothermal treatment temperature.