Evaporation strategy generated antibacterial enamel-like fluorapatite-polyacrylic acid sheet for functional dental restoration

A method of synthesizing an enamel-like sheet, comprising:

• i. providing a polymer plate;
• ii. immersing the polymer plate in a polydopamine solution or other solutions that have phenolic hydroxyl groups at a concentration of about 2 mg/ml for at least 24 hours;
• iii optionally, fixing plastic foams on the polydopamine-activated polymer plate to provide additional buoyance force for the polymer plate;
• iv. placing the polymer plate in a calcification solution comprising low-molecular-weight polyacrylic acid (LPAA) and fluorapatite (FAP) Ca5(PO4)3F, ensuring a constant distance of about 3 mm from the polymer plate to the liquid surface of the calcification solution;
• v. carrying out a mineralization process by incubating the system from step iv at about 70° C. for rapid evaporation and refreshing the evaporated solution by replenishing LPAA, FAP and water;
• and
• vi. dissolving the polymer plate with a solvent to obtain the enamel-like sheet,
• wherein the frequency of replenishing the solution can be determined by the evaporation rate of the solution,
• wherein the mineralization time depends on the needed thickness of the enamel like sheet,
• wherein the polymer plate is stable in water at 70° C. but can be dissolved by organic solvents selected from the group consisting of acetone and isoamyl acetate,
• wherein in the calcification solution, the concentration of fluorine ion is 0.1-10 mmol/L, and the concentration of LPAA is about 25 mg/L,
• wherein the LPAA has mass average molecular weight of 3,000.