Preparation of cellulose-chitosan polymer blends

Production and characterization of thick, thin and ultra-thin chitosan/PEO films

“…However, no significant shift in the diffraction peaks was observed, indicating that the presence of chitosan did not affect the ordered structure of PEO but only limited the nucleation process (Mucha et al, 1999;Peesan, Supaphol, & Rujiravanit, 2005). Similarly, chitosan has been reported to retard the crystallinity of films made of cellulose (Isogai & Atalla, 1992), poly(3-hydroxybutyric acid) (Ikejima & Inoue, 2000), nylon 11 (Kuo, Sahu, & Yu, 2006), polycaprolactone (Sarasam, Krishnaswamy, & Madihally, 2006), and poly(vinyl alcohol) (Chen, Wang, Mao, & Yang, 2007). This may be explained by that the chitosan molecular chains affected the overall mobility of polymers in the blend and impeded the rate of crystal growth (Zhao, Yu, Zhong, Zhang, & Sun, 1995).…”

Polysaccharide-based polymer blends: Methods of their production

“…Thus, cellulose-chitosan films have been formed from polysaccharide solutions in trifluoroacetic acid [56] and chloral-dimethylformamide mixed solvent [53], whereas cellulose-chitin films have been prepared from solutions in a dimethylacetamide-LiCl mixture [57,58]. The thermodynamic compatibility of the chitin and cellulose was studied thoroughly by the methods of the D 2 O sorption by the films of these polysaccharides of various compositions and the small-angle neutron scattering.…”

Miscible chitosan/tertiary amide polymer blends

“…Chitosan/ cellulose blends are transparent and the two polymers mix intimately as shown by scanning electron microscopy. 4 Chitosan is partially miscible with polyamide-4, but immiscible with polyamide-6. 5 Chitosan/PVA blends are homogeneous and have tensile strength greater than the sum of the component values.…”

“…2 Chitosan is the deacetylated product of chitin, normally with a degree of deacetylation greater than 50%. Blends of chitosan with cellulose, 3,4 polyamides, 5,6 poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), [7][8][9] and poly-(ethylene oxide) 10 have been studied. Chitosan/ cellulose blends are transparent and the two polymers mix intimately as shown by scanning electron microscopy.…”