In this work, we studied the preparation and characterization of porous and non-porous chitosan membranes, which may have several technological uses. For characterization, we have used microscopy (scanning electron microscopy -SEM- and atomic force microscopy -AFM), potentiometric titration and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR). The synthesis of structures were done by total or partial casting of a 2.5% (w/w) chitosan acetic solution and further coagulation. Glutaraldehyde was also used to chemically modify chitosan, making it more hydrophobic. The extension of this process could be observed by FTIR-ATR, and by using a factorial plan which varied time of fixation and concentration of glutaraldehyde solution.
Chitosan; membranes; globules; biopolymer; chitin; polysaccharide
