title: Enhancing mechanical properties of chitosan films via modification with vanillin.
abstract: The vanillin/chitosan composite films were prepared using the solvent evaporation method. The properties of the films including optical property, water vapor permeability (WVP), tensile strength (TS) and elongation at break (%E) were studied to investigate the effect of cross-linking agent of vanillin on chitosan films by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FT-IR). Results showed that the TS of composite films increased by 53.3% and the WVP decreased by 36.5% compared with pure chitosan film that were due to the formation of the dense network structure by FT-IR spectra. There were almost no changes of the thermal stability of the composite films compared with the pure chitosan film by TGA analysis. In addition, from the SEM images, it could be seen that the film with addition of vanillin with 0.5-10% concentration exhibited good compatibility.
authors: College of Light Industry and Food Sciences, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510640, China.
authors: Zhi-Hong
authors: ZH
authors: Zhang
authors: College of Light Industry and Food Sciences, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510640, China. Electronic address: fezhonghan@scut.edu.cn.
authors: Zhong
authors: Z
authors: Han
authors: College of Light Industry and Food Sciences, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510640, China. Electronic address: xazeng@scut.edu.cn.
authors: Xin-An
authors: XA
authors: Zeng
authors: College of Light Industry and Food Sciences, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510640, China.
authors: Xia-Yu
authors: XY
authors: Xiong
authors: Department of Applied Chemistry, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510642, China.
authors: Yu-Jia
authors: YJ
authors: Liu
mesh_terms: D001547:Benzaldehydes / Q000737:chemistry*; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D003116:Color; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D010539:Permeability; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013227:Steam; D013818:Thermogravimetry; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D001547:Benzaldehydes; D013227:Steam; D048271:Chitosan; C100058:vanillin
keywords: Chitosan films; Cross-linking reaction; Physicochemical properties; Vanillin