Fig. 3.
Morphology and physiochemical evaluation of the microgels. (A) SEM images of the surface, coronal-section, and cross-section morphologies of the microgels (Scale bars in low magnification images were 100 μm, and in high magnification images were 10 μm. The red regions represented for the inner layer, the brown regions represented for the middle layer, the blue regions represented for the outer layer, and the white arrowheads represented for HAp). (B) Schematic illustration and EDS mapping images of Ca and P elements and EDS point images of the MMGCH microgels. (C–E) FTIR spectra, XRD spectra, and TGA analysis of the microgels. (F) Pore size of the microgels. (G) Mass increase of the microgels after biomimetic mineralization in SBF. (H) Calcium quantitative analysis of the microgels. (I) Elastic modulus evaluation of the microgels (ns: no significance, ∗p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗∗p < 0.001).