An investigation of the electrical, mechanical and biocompatibility properties of barium titanate / hydroxyapatite bulk ceramics

Barium titanate/hydroxyapatite (BT/HA) nanocomposites were fabricated by hydrothermal process at 120–180 °C for 12 h using HA as a solid phase and BT precursor solution as a liquid phase. The structure was HA nanoparticles with diameter of 20–30 nm surrounding the spherical BT with diameter of 180–300 nm. BT/HA bulk ceramics can be obtained by spherical BT/HA nanocomposites. Its electrical and mechanical properties investigation showed that BT/HA bulk ceramics performance can be enhanced by controlling the BT phase content and grain size. The piezoelectric coefficient d33 value of the material was 0.61 pC/N, being close to the body dry bones 0.7 pC/N. The compressive strength of BT/HA bulk ceramics was 67.32 MPa. The results of optimized geometry of C2H2O4 molecule obtained at the B3LYP/6–311 + g(d, p) level of theory in a suite of Gaussian 09 programs based on periodic DFT calculations, indicated C2H2O4 molecule was key to the formation of nanocomposites. Moreover, the biotoxicity of composites shows that the BT/HA bulk ceramics are non-toxic to the MSCs cells. •BT/HA spherical nanocomposites can be obtained at 120–180 °C for 12 h.•The morphology is HA nanoparticles with diameter of 20–30 nm surrounding the spherical BT with diameter of 180–300 nm.•The piezoelectric coefficient d33 value of BT/HA bulk ceramics composites is 0.61 pC/N and compressive strength is 67.32 MPa.•The periodic DFT calculations results indicated C2H2O4 molecule was key to the formation of nanocomposites.