Nano-particles of hydroxyapatite (HA) were prepared by simple method. The dried prepared particles were mixed with different percentages of zinc oxide (ZnO, 25, 50 and 75% wt. %). The produced samples were characterized by IR and X-ray techniques, where the morphologies of the samples were examined by SEM, TEM and EDAX. The results indicate that the pure HA is formed in nano particles (<100nm) and have hexagonal structure. By adding different percentages of ZnO, the particles exhibit a decrease in their size and improve the crystallinity of the parent HA.
Before studying the bioactivity, the prepared samples were immersed in simulated body fluid (SBF) solution for 14 and 45 days. The characterization of the samples after immersion indicates that there are no change in the structure and the phases, while there are changes in the Ca/P ratio.
The behavior of the pure HA and the mixed samples towards gram-positive bacterium(Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213), gram-negative bacterium (Escherichia coli ATCC 25922), yeast (Candida albicans NRRL-Y477) and (Aspergillus niger NRC53) fungus indicated that the addition of the ZnO increase the resistance of samples against bacteria and fungi.