Immobilization of collagen on gold nanoparticles: Preparation, characterization, and hydroxyapatite growth

The growth of hydroxyapatite (HA) on self-assembled collagen gold nanoparticles is presented for the first time by employing wet chemistry at ambient conditions, and we obtained near-quantitative yields of composite. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that the gold nanoparticles are well dispersed with an average diameter of 4 nm, which was further supported by the strong surface plasmon band (SPB) at 527 nm in the UV-vis spectra. The band broadening, shifting and flattening after the addition of HA precursors suggests the formation of HA aggregates. FT-IR spectroscopy confirms that the characteristic functionalities of collagen are intact even after the conjugation with gold nanoparticles, which renders the formation of randomly aggregated quarter-moon-like HA. Microscopic and crystallographic study at this stage further confirms its crystallographic structure that the HA particles aligned with their crystallographic c-axes preferentially parallel to the orientation of collagen on the gold nanoparticles with an elemental composition resembling that of natural HA. The result showed that gold nanoparticles with collagen form an efficient matrix for the growth of HA and the mineralized collagen can be potentially applied in bone tissue repair and regeneration.