Carrier-mediated blends of Chitosan with polyvinyl chloride for different applications

The current work aims at blending of PVC with Chitosan through simultaneous casting of their separate solutions in different proportions of PVC and Chitosan in suitable solvents. After dissolution, both solutions were added to each other while stirring at room temperature. The obtained mixture was left at room temperature to form the blend after evaporation of the solvent. Similar blends have been prepared similarly in presence of the organic ligand, dithizone, as a carrier-mediating material for different metal ions. PVC/Chitosan blends were characterized by thermal (TGA) and FT-IR Spectroscopic analyses as well as scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The obtained blends were found to have reasonable extent of compatibility between their components. Such compatibility depends mainly on the way with which the components have been blended with each other. The polymer-supported dithizone was investigated toward its ability to be used for removal of some metal ions from their aqueous solutions. Concentration of metal ions was determined by ICP-AES analysis.