Chitosan-Vanillin-Montmorillonite Composite Hydrogel: Preparation and Mechanical Properties

 Chitosan is a biodegradable biopolymer used today as an effective and practical material in various industries. To produce chitosan hydrogels, different crosslinkers are utilized, most of which are toxic and, dangerous. Due to the many applications of chitosan in medicine, pharmaceuticals, tissue engineering and food industries, it is better to use safe and non-toxic crosslinkers to produce biopolymers and hydrogels. Vanillin is a natural and non-toxic aldehyde that can be used as a crosslinker to produce chitosan hydrogels. The cross-links that vanillin make with chitosan are, on the one hand, the Schiff base type bond, and on the other hand, the hydrogen bond, which makes the chitosan-vanillin (CV) hydrogel more mechanically weaker than other chitosan-dialdehyde hydrogels. Chitosan-vanillin hydrogels have been studied in micro- and nanoscale and biofilm shape. In this study, montmorillonite (MMT) fillers have been used to fabricate chitosan-vanillin-montmorillonite (CMV) macrohydrogels, and their effect on improving mechanical properties has been investigated.

In this study, chitosan hydrogels were fabricated with vanillin crosslinker and montmorillonite as fillers. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were performed to identify the bonds formed and to examine the morphology of the hydrogels, respectively. Then, the gel content, swelling, porosity, and mechanical properties of hydrogels were investigated.

The results showed that the presence of vanillin increased the porosity and caused regular porosity in the chitosan hydrogel. Chitosan and vanillin macrohydrogels have good mechanical properties with a porosity greater than 90%, gel content > 86%, swelling, and mechanical strength. The addition of filler to chitosan-vanillin hydrogels also reduces the porosity and swelling and increases the mechanical properties of this system