3.1. Characterization of sorbents
Fig. 1A displays a typical TEM image of the nHAp particles
prepared as described in Section 2.1. As obviously seen, nHAp
appeared in the form of thin short nanorods 5 nm in diameter and
20–50 nm in length. Interestingly, there was a distinct separation
between these nHAp nanorods with a little aggregation, which
might result instantly in the preparation procedure before the TEM
measurements. The inset of Fig. 1A represents the electron
diffraction pattern of nHAp where polycrystalline diffraction rings
appeared corresponding to the crystallographic planes (0 0 2) and
(2 1 1) of nHAp crystals. On the other hand, the EDX analysis
(Fig. 1B) informed about the relative ratio of calcium to
phosphorus (stoichiometric ratio of Ca/P was 1.67) in nHAp,
which agreed perfectly with the initial mixing ratio of the starting
materials.