Self-assembly and characterization of polyelectrolyte complex films of hyaluronic acid/chitosan

Due to the theoretical and practical importance of hyaluronic acid (HA) and chitosan in biomedical engineering, self-assembly polyelectrolyte complex films of HA/chitosan were fabricated with two different strategies and characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM). With the first strategy, while the mica was rich in negative charges, chitosan was fabricated first and the HA were fabricated secondly. The films exhibited cluster features on the substrate. With the second strategy, while the mica was modified to be in positive charges, HA was fabricated first and chitosan was fabricated secondly. The films exhibited a more homogeneous feature and a nice miscibility at nanometer scale and had a lower roughness than pure chitosan films. The self-assembly polyelectrolyte complex films by strategy two were smoother and more uniform than the ones by strategy one.