Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1385928 | Carbohydrate Polymers | 2010 | 5 Pages |
Chitin and chitosan nanofibers with different degrees of deacetylation (DD) were fabricated by electrospinning using 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP) as the spinning solvent and by subsequent deacetylation using a 40% aqueous NaOH solution at 100 °C for 0–150 min. The thermal decomposition behavior of the chitin and chitosan nanofibers was examined by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The thermal stability of the chitin/chitosan nanofibers was decreased with increasing the DD and the peak temperature for thermal decomposition on the TGA curves was shifted to a lower temperature. The activation energies for the thermal degradation of the chitin/chitosan nanofibers were calculated from the TGA curves. The two exotherms corresponding to the decomposition of N-acetyl-d-glucosamime and d-glucosamine units in the chitin/chitosan molecular chains were observed on the DSC thermograms. This suggests that the residual N-acetyl groups had a blocky distribution in the molecular chain, possibly due to heterogeneous deacetylation.