We isolated chitin nanofibers from crab shells, deacetylate the fibrils and further fibrillated it into nanofibrils. The obtained aqueous colloidal nanochitin suspensions (1%, 1.5% 2%) were wet-spun into microfibers using three different coagulation baths, namely, acetone, NaOH(aq) and ammonia solution. The microfibers obtained from alkaline conditions kept a circular cross-section while the ones obtained from acetone were irregular. The wide angle X-ray scattering demonstrated that the nanochitin oriented in the longitudinal direction, with similar fibril orientation index (0.72-0.78) for all fibers. Microfibers spun from 1 and 1.5% concentration as well as alkaline baths displayed better mechanical properties compared to the ones spun from 2% or acetone bath. In contrast to nanocellulose-based wet-spun fibers, which that were too weak to measure the wet strength in water, chitin fibers had a much better wet-strength: 68% (acetone), 52% (NaOH) and 46% (NH3H2O) residual strength compared to the dry strength. Meanwhile, due to the presence of amino groups, the fibers had a high thermal stability. Finally, when applied for cardiac and bone, chitin microfibers demonstrated high biocompatibility in vitro for both types of proliferating cells. This opens new possibilities for advanced bio-based materials as healing patches and scaffolds for heart and bone tissues.

Wet-spun microfibers from nanochitin for biomedical applications

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.