Effect of Functionalized TiO2 on Mechanical, Thermal and Swelling Properties of Chitosan-Based Nanocomposite Films

In this work, a novel type of biodegradable hybrids consisting of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and chitosan has been fabricated. At first, the TiO₂ nanoparticles were modified with N-trimellitylimido-S-valine diacid that this diacid express biomateral moieties through available amino acid groups. The microscopy results demonstrated that the modified TiO₂ nanoparticles were dispersed homogeneously in the chitosan matrix at the nanometric scale, which could be assigned to the covalent as well as hydrogen bonding formed between chitosan and TiO₂-diacid. Among all of the prepared films, nanocomposite film containing 15 wt% TiO₂ exhibited the highest thermal and mechanical performance.