Solid-state MAS NMR, TEM, and TGA studies of structural hydroxyl groups and water in nanocrystalline apatites prepared by dry milling

A series of nanocrystalline calcium hydroxyapatites was prepared by dry milling and characterized using proton and 31P MAS NMR, TEM, and TGA methods. The samples contained stubby rod-shaped crystals, which length and width varied in the 130–30 and 95–20 nm ranges, respectively. It was confirmed that concentration of structural hydroxyl groups in nanocrystalline apatites decreases with the decreasing crystal size. In the series of the studied apatites, the decrease was from 86 to ca. 50 % in reference to stoichiometric apatite. Water was found in the surface hydrated layer and in the c-axis channels, in which compartments existed as adsorbed and structural, respectively. Molecules of the adsorbed water were capable of moving from the crystal surface into the lattice c-axis channels of apatite. This process introduced considerable structural disorder within and around those channels and reduced the content of the structural hydroxyl groups, particularly in the region underneath the apatite crystal surface.