Effect of Functionalized TiO2on Mechanical, Thermal and Swelling Properties of Chitosan-Based Nanocomposite Films

In this work, a novel type of biodegradable hybrids consisting of titanium dioxide (TiO2) and chitosan has been fabricated. At first, the TiO2 nanoparticles were modified with N-trimellitylimido-S-valine diacid to express biomateral moieties through available amino acid groups. The microscopy results demonstrated that the modified TiO2 nanoparticles were dispersed homogeneously in the chitosan matrix at the nanometric scale, which could be assigned to covalent bonds as well as hydrogen bonding formed between chitosan and TiO2-diacid. Among all of the prepared films, a nanocomposite film containing 15 wt.% TiO2 exhibited the highest thermal and mechanical performance.