Microwave Dielectric Analysis on Porous Hydroxyapatite/Starch Composites with Various Ratio of Hydroxyapatite to Starch

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the dielectric response of the porous hydroxyapatite/starch composites by varying the starch proportion in determining the feasibility of the microwave sample characterization technique in bone tissue engineering. The porous hydroxyapatite/starch composites were fabricated by using natural starch (gelatinization and retrogradation) through the solvent casting and particulate leaching technique. The dielectric constant (ε′) and loss factor (ε′′) of the complex permittivity of the porous hydroxyapatite/starch composites were measured in the Ku band frequency of 12.4-18.0 GHz. ε′ and ε′′ of the porous composites increase with frequency. The highly porous composite that due to higher starch proportion exhibit higher ε′ and ε′′, resulting in the significant dielectric responses.

The State of Starch/Hydroxyapatite Composite Scaffold in Bone Tissue Engineering with Consideration for Dielectric Measurement as an Alternative Characterization Technique

“…The measurement of bone tissue scaffolds’ porosity based on dielectric spectroscopy is still at a novel stage. This new research direction is currently undertaken by Razali et al [ 102 ], Beh et al [ 103 ], Roslan et al [ 55 ] and Mohd Nasir et al [ 104 ], concentrating on starch/HA scaffolds. Their research was focused on the correlation between the dielectric properties of bone scaffolds against the porosity, while other researchers delved more into the material dielectric properties.…”

“…Studies by Razali et al [ 22 ], Beh et al [ 103 ], Roslan et al [ 72 ] and Mohd Nasir et al [ 74 ] involved the measurement of dielectric constant (ε ′ ) and dielectric loss (ε ″ ) of the starch/HA bone tissue scaffolds by using transmission line method at frequencies that ranged from 12.4 GHz to 18 GHz [ 55 , 104 ]. Here, the dielectric spectroscopy measurement applies to any porous composite scaffolds as the porous architecture could be quantified by respective ε′ and ε″ value.…”

“…Here, the dielectric spectroscopy measurement applies to any porous composite scaffolds as the porous architecture could be quantified by respective ε′ and ε″ value. The corn starch/HA scaffolds exhibited low ε′ and negative ε″, which were influenced by the composites porous morphology and their crystalline features due to the various proportion of HA and corn starch applied [ 50 , 102 , 103 ]. This similar trend could also be seen in tapioca starch/HA scaffolds [ 104 ].…”

In situ synthesis and characterization of nano‐hydroxyapatite/starch composites

“…[ 5‐8 ] A composite biomaterial of HA and polymer therefore is awaited to show HA nanoparticles dispersed uniformly in the polymer matrix and increase biocompatibility, biodegradation. [ 9‐12 ]…”