New developments in synthesis of bioceramics, electrophoretic deposition of biopolymer, and composites using organic bases

Biocompatible organic bases, such as meglumine (MEG) and L-arginine (LAG) amino acid are explored for hydrothermal synthesis of ZnO and TiO2 instead of inorganic bases. MEG or LAG show selectivity and allow synthesis of only ZnO or TiO2, respectively. The synthesis mechanism is discussed. MEG promotes growth of ZnO particles and influences the particle morphology, whereas caffeic acid (CAH) dispersant solubilized in the presence of MEG facilitates the fabrication of small nanoparticles. MEG facilitates dissolution of polygalacturonic acid (PGH) polymer, cholic acid (CHH), and ibuprofen (IBH) in water and allows for their electrophoretic deposition (EPD) and co-deposition. Quartz crystal microbalance studies are used for the analysis of deposition rate and drug release. CHH solubilized in the presence of MEG facilitates the formation of stable suspensions of carbon nanotubes and their EPD, with the EPD mechanism proposed and discussed. PGH is co-deposited by EPD with ZnO, TiO2 and carbon nanotubes and the influence of CAH and CHH solubilized by MEG on film morphology is analyzed. The ability to use acidic forms of PGH, CAH, CHH, and IBH instead of their corresponding salts offers multiple benefits for aqueous EPD of materials, such as reduced gas evolution, formation of thick and dense films, improved dispersion of metal oxides and carbon nanotubes, and the ability to apply enlarged voltage, which is critically important for the co-deposition with metal oxide ceramics. The approach developed in this investigation can be applied for the synthesis and colloidal processing of other materials for biomedical, sensor, electronic and energy storage applications.