Production and characterization of hydrogels of chitosan/cellulose nanocrystals crosslinked with glutaraldehyde

• Grant number: 13/12336-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2013
• End date: July 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Ana Paula Lemes
• Grantee: Mateus dos Santos Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciência e Tecnologia (ICT). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São José dos Campos. São José dos Campos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Chitosan shows several possible applications in production of biomaterials because of its biocompatibility and no toxicity, including bioadhesives, wound dressing and tissue engineering scaffolds for skin substitutes. This biopolymer can be easily processed into films, hydrogels, nanofibers, micro and nanocapsules, etc. However, the low mechanical properties of chitosan are the main barrier to its application.Many works in the literature have used cellulose nanocrystals as reinforcing agents in matrixes of chitosan. However, most of these studies evaluate the effect of the introduction of nanocrystals cellulose in films of chitosan; a low number of works evaluates this effect in chitosan hydrogels. Thereby, this project aims the development of a chitosan hydrogel reticulated with glutaraldehyde and reinforced with cellulose nanocrystals in order to analyze the possible interactions with the components of this nanocomposite, and to obtain a material with properties that make possible its application in medical area.For this, the hydrogels will be produced with different concentrations of cellulose nanocrystals and characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy, Infrared Spectroscopy, Uniaxial Compression Tests, and Swelling Capacity.