£]-Chitin nanofibrils for self-sustaining hydrogels preparation via hydrothermal treatment
Journal
Carbohydrate Polymers
Journal Volume
90
Journal Issue
4
Pages
1509-1514
Date Issued
2012
Author(s)
Abstract
A transparent nanofibril suspension could be readily obtained by treating purified squid pen powder in water with ultrasonic irradiation. The obtained suspension is consisted of £]-chitin nanofibrils (CNF) with 3-10 nm in width and several micrometers in length. The degree of acetylation (DA) of CNF was found to be 84% which is about 10% lower than that of untreated sample. The CNF suspension could be transformed into a durable 3-D hydrogels (CH) by simply heating to 180 ¢XC for 1-4 h in an autoclave. Hydrophobic interaction between CNF was believed to play the major role for CNF self-assembling into hydrogels, since the as-prepared chitin hydrogels readily dissolved in a typical chaotropic solution (8 M urea) under room temperature. The hydrothermal duration and CNF concentration (0.3-2% (w/v)) strongly affected the physical properties of CH. The suspension of 1% (w/v) CNF treated with 4 h, 180 ¢XC hydrothermal heating generated a CH with 99.3% water content, CNF with 87% crystallinity and an mechanical strength of 0.7 N breaking force. ? 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Subjects
£]-Chitin
Chitin nanofibrils
Hydrogels
Hydrothermal
Squid pen
Type
journal article