Bioprocess-Inspired Room-Temperature Synthesis of Enamel-like Fluorapatite/Polymer Nanocomposites Controlled by Magnesium Ions
Yidi Li, Hang Ping, Jingjiang Wei, Zhaoyong Zou, Pengchao Zhang, Jingjing Xie, Yuhang Jia, Hao Xie, Weimin Wang, Kun Wang, Zhengyi Fu
Abstract
Tooth enamel is composed of arrayed fluorapatite (FAP) or hydroxyapatite nanorods modified with Mg-rich amorphous layers. Although it is known that Mg2+ plays an important role in the formation of enamel, there is limited research on the regulatory role of Mg2+ in the synthesis of enamel-like materials. Therefore, we focus on the regulatory behavior of Mg2+ in the fabrication of biomimetic mineralized enamel-like structural materials. In the present study, we adopt a bioprocess-inspired room-temperature mineralization technique to synthesize a multilayered array of enamel-like columnar FAP/polymer nanocomposites controlled by Mg2+ (FPN-M). The results reveal that the presence of Mg2+ induced the compaction of the array and the formation of a unique Mg-rich amorphous-reinforced architecture. Therefore, the FPN-M array exhibits excellent mechanical properties. The hardness (2.42 ± 0.01 GPa) and Young’s modulus (81.5 ± 0.6 GPa) of the as-prepared FPN-M array are comparable to those of its biological counterparts; furthermore, the enamel-like FPN-M array is translucent. The hardness and Young’s modulus of the synthetic array of FAP/polymer nanocomposites without Mg2+ control (FPN) are 0.51 ± 0.04 and 43.5 ± 1.6 GPa, respectively. The present study demonstrates a reliable bioprocess-inspired room-temperature fabrication technique for the development of advanced high-performance composite materials.