Study of the swelling and stability properties of chitosan-xanthan membranes

The production of stable membranes formed by chitosanxanthan complexation employing different polysaccharide concentrations and chitosan flow rates is described in this work. The membranes were characterized in terms of their morphology, thickness, maximum uptake capacity, and mass loss in physiological solutions, water drainage ability, and mechanical resistance. The results obtained show that it is possible to produce membranes with high swelling capacities and drainage ability (up to 61 g of H2O per gram of dry membrane and 5900 g m-2 day-1, respectively) without significant mass loss when exposed to aqueous solutions (maximum 13%). The membranes obtained at the chitosan solution flow rate of 300 mL h-1 had the most suitable mechanical properties. Increases in polysaccharide concentration produced higher water absorption and reduction in tensile strength at break. Therefore, the material obtained showed properties that suggest its promising applications as wound dressings or as scaffolds for animal cell cultures. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012