DEVELOPMENT OF TITANIUM CATALYST FROM COLLAGEN NANOFIBRIL SCAFFOLD AND UNDERSTANDING THEIR DENSITY

There are various methods of production and uses for a porous metallic structure, such as a catalyst for a chemical reactor or a biomedical implant that can be coated to assist with the implantation of the device. In the case of this research, the structure was produced with a sacrificial Type I collagen scaffold. The scaffold was developed through the process described later on in the materials and methods section. Burning this collagen scaffold that is homogenized with titanium powder produces a purely metallic structure while oxidizing the titanium to produce titanium dioxide. This structure maintains the physical properties of the scaffold, such as a high surface area to volume ratio, and titanium dioxide which is known to be a successful support structure when used in heterogeneous catalysis. The developed production process used, created a spherical titanium bead which was found to have a consistent density at varying masses.