Photocuring-assisted emulsion of ceramic suspensions containing phase-separable camphene/photopolymer vehicle for porous ceramic spheres

We herein describe photocuring-assisted emulsion of a ceramic suspension prepared using a thermo-regulated phase-separable camphene/photopolymer vehicle for synthesis of porous hydroxyapatite (HA) spheres with unique porous structures. HA suspensions with different camphene contents (60 vol %, 70 vol %, and 80 vol %) were prepared by dispersing HA particles in various camphene/hexanediol diacrylate (HDDA) solutions at room temperature and then emulsified in an aqueous polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution via magnetic stirring. Emulsions were frozen at −20 °C for phase separation of camphene/HDDA solutions and then photocured for polymerization of HDDA enclosing HA particles. Synthesized spheres were freeze-dried to remove the camphene-rich crystals. All spheres sintered at 1250 °C for 3 h had well-defined spherical shape with three-dimensionally interconnected pores. The porosity of individual HA spheres increased from ∼ 56.5 vol % to ∼ 78.7 vol % with an increase in camphene content from 60 vol % to 80 vol %.