Thermal degradation of double crosslinked hydrogel chitosan membranes

Abstract

The thermal degradation behaviour of uncrosslinked and crosslinked chitosan membranes were studied by means of dynamic thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) over the temperature range 25-500ºC in nitrogen atmosphere. Modified chitosan membranes were prepared using a crosslinking method based on covalent crosslinking of chitosan with glutaraldehyde and subsequent ionic crosslinking with sodium citrate, sulfuric acid, sulfosuccinic acid and tripolyphosphate, respectively. Chemical structure of modified chitosan membranes before and after their thermal degradation was characterized by FTIR spectroscopy. Both TGA and DSC experiments as well as spectral results (FTIR spectra of thermal degradation residues) indicated some differences in the mechanism of thermal degradation of uncrosslinked and crosslinked chitosan membranes