Preparation of hydrogel nanofibers based on chitosan and PEG = Preparation of hydrogel nanofibers based on chitosan and PEG

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Chitosan is a natural biopolymer, which is often considered as a poorly spinnable polymer. It is widely applied in the biomedical areas after crosslinking, because of its outstanding biocompatible properties. To utilize the high surface area of nanofibers and the high water swelling property of hydrogels together, hydrogel nanofibers based on chitosan were developed in here. Using an aqueous acetic acid solution of chitosan and other monomers, nanofibrous nonwoven fabric was first prepared, followed by UV crosslinking. After crosslinking, hydrogel nanofibers were stable enough in water. The amount of the leaching-out materials in water for a week could be minimized down to 1.3 wt%. The morphology of chitosan/PEG mat was examined by optical microscope and scanning electron micrographs, which showed uniform ultrafine fibers with diameters from 100 nm to 500 nm. These biocompatible hydrogel materials of high surface area could be useful in various future applications such as sensors, waste scavenging, and catalysis as interesting matrices.