Electrochemical and Structural Characterization of Lanthanum-Doped Hydroxyapatite: A Promising Material for Sensing Applications
Rocco Cancelliere, Giuseppina Rea, Laura Micheli, Pietro Mantegazza, Erwin Bauer, Asmaa El Khouri, Emanuela Tempesta, Angela Altomare, Davide Capelli, Francesco Capitelli
Abstract
(RE = La, Nd, Sm, Eu, Dy, and Tm and x = 0.01, 0.02, 0.10, and 0.20) hydroxyapatite (HAp) samples were subjected to an in-depth electrochemical characterization using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic and square wave voltammetry. Among all of these, the inorganic phosphates doped with lanthanum proved to be the most reliable, revealing robust analytical performances in terms of sensitivity, repeatability, reproducibility, and reusability, hence paving the way for their exploitation in sensing applications. Structural data on La-doped HAp samples were also provided by using different techniques, including optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Rietveld refinement from X-ray data, Fourier transform infrared, and Raman vibrational spectroscopies, to complement the electrochemical characterization.