Electrospinning of chitin/collagen composite to enhance mechanical stability

Abstract

In this study, the electrospinning of α- and β-chitin/collagen composite nanofibers have been investigated. Electrospinning is a method of fabricating fibers of less than micrometers in the non-woven form using various electric fields at the anode and cathode. Chitin is the second most abundant resource in the earth after cellulose, and has high biocompatibility and biodegradability with high mechanical properties. Chitin is composed of alpha, beta and gamma depending on the intermolecular bonding structure, and alpha, beta accounts for most of the chitin. Beta chitin, which has a parallel molecular structure, differs in binding to collagen because of the loose intermolecular bond as compared with alpha chitin having an antiparallel molecular structure. α- and β -chitin/collagen nanofibers were observed by SEM and their intramolecular interactions were revealed by FT-IR, 2DCOS, and DSC. Moreover, the mechanical properties of each specimen were measured using UTM (Universal Testing Machine). As a result, it was found that the difference in the interaction between α- and β-chitin and collagen contributes differently to the improvement of the mechanical property of the collagen/chitin nanofiber. Therefore, we anticipate that mechanically improved chitin/collagen mat can be used as potential materials for future biomedical polymers such as GBR membranes.