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Highly transparent chitin nanofiber/gelatin nanocomposite with enhanced mechanical properties

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Abstract

Chitin and gelatin are biodegradable and biocompatible polymers which have gained much attention applied as bio-based materials. In this study, Chitin nanofiber (ChNF)/gelatin nanocomposite was synthesized by immersion method followed with drying at room temperature. The ChNF content in the ChNF/gelatin was controlled in a broad range by changing the concentration of gelatin solutions from 2, 5 to 10% during the immersion processes. The prepared ChNF/gelatin showed uniformly nanofiber network structures which embedded inside the gelatin matrix. The UV measurement indicated that the transmittance of ChNF was increased to as high as 88.7% from 65% at 600 nm, regardless of nanofiber content. Young’s modulus of the 50.2%-ChNF/gelatin (with the ChNF content of 50.2%) was around 5192 MPa, which was almost two times higher than that of the pure gelatin. This mechanical improvement was attributed to the reinforcing effect from ChNF nano-networks as well as the formation of hydrogen bondings between gelatin and chitin moleculars. Therefore, with the highly transparent and improved mechanical properties, the prepared ChNF/gelatin nanocomposite films may offer promising and broad prospects in the field of food packaging and bio-medical industrials.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (CN) (No. BK20170925), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 31670555), the Innovation Fund for Young Scholars of Nanjing Forestry University (CX2017001) and the Practice Innovation Training Program for College Students in Jiangsu Province (SPITP 201710298071Y).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China

    Chuchu Chen, Shuwen Deng, Yini Yang, Dan Yang, Ting Ye & Dagang Li

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  1. Chuchu Chen
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  2. Shuwen Deng
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  3. Yini Yang
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  4. Dan Yang
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  5. Ting Ye
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  6. Dagang Li
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Correspondence to Chuchu Chen or Dagang Li.

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Chen, C., Deng, S., Yang, Y. et al. Highly transparent chitin nanofiber/gelatin nanocomposite with enhanced mechanical properties. Cellulose 25, 5063–5070 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-018-1915-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-018-1915-z

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