Chitin Whiskers: An Overview

Abstract

Chitin is the second most abundant semicrystalline polysaccharide. Like cellulose, the amorphous domains of chitin can also be removed under certain conditions such as acidolysis to give rise to crystallites in nanoscale, which are the so-called chitin nanocrystals or chitin whiskers (CHWs). CHW together with other organic nanoparticles such as cellulose whisker (CW) and starch nanocrystal show many advantages over traditional inorganic nanoparticles such as easy availability, nontoxicity, biodegradability, low density, and easy modification. They have been widely used as substitutes for inorganic nanoparticles in reinforcing polymer nanocomposites. The research and development of CHW related areas are much slower than those of CW. However, CHWs are still of strategic importance in the resource scarcity periods because of their abundant availability and special properties. During the past decade, increasing studies have been done on preparation of CHWs and their application in reinforcing polymer nanocomposites. Some other applications such as being used as feedstock to prepare chitosan nanoscaffolds have also been investigated. This Article is to review the recent development on CHW related studies.

Influence of pH on mechanical relaxations in high solids LM-pectin preparations

“…Typical polysaccharides that acquire a polycrystalline character during their biosynthesis are starch 43 , cellulose 44,45 and chitin. 46 In cellulose and chitin for instance, acid hydrolysis of the amorphous regions results in fabrication of a new materials that consist of aggregates of cellulose or chitin crystals at various length scales. These materials find applications in food and pharmaceutical industries as fat substitutes, texture modifiers, tablet binders or additives that reinforce polymer composites.…”

Birefringence of nanocrystalline chitin films studied by Mueller-matrix spectroscopic ellipsometry

“…Two disaccharide motifs comprise the orthorhombic unit cell of -chitin [2,3], the polymer chain being oriented along the c-axis which is the fiber axis. In marine creatures the crystallite width and length ranges are 10-50 nm and 150-2200 nm [4], respectively, and depend on the source of α-chitin. However, in insects the width is only around 2-3 nm [5,6].…”

Crosslinked carboxylated SBR composites reinforced with chitin nanocrystals

“…Many studies have shown that incorporating a small amount (1-10 %) of these nanocrystals into polymers can induce vast improvement in properties [1,13]. The properties enhancement can be realized by uniform dispersion of the nanocrystals in polymer matrix via solution mixing or melt mixing [14]. In these composite systems, interfacial interactions between the matrix and the filler are critical.…”