High efficient fabrication of chitosan micropowder by combination of gamma radiation and jet pulverization

We describe here a novel approach to the high efficient fabrication of chitosan micropowder by combining radiation technique and jet pulverization. The radiation dose is at 100-300 kGy. Size of microparticles in ethanol dispersion determined by dynamic laser scattering (DLS) is in the range of 5-20 μm, depending on the radiation dose and degree of deacetylation (DD). However, Scanning electron micrography (SEM) measurement shows a size range of 0.1-10 μm. FTIR spectra indicate that chemical structure of the micropowder is retained, while the decomposition temperature measured decreases slightly as compared to the control.