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Unraveling the Effect of the Hydration Level on the Molecular Mobility of Nanolayered Polymeric Systems
Author(s) -
Borges João,
Caridade Sofia G.,
Silva Joana M.,
Mano João F.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.201400568
Subject(s) - materials science , relaxation (psychology) , molecular dynamics , chemical physics , glass transition , nanotechnology , chitosan , smart material , polymer , chemical engineering , chemistry , computational chemistry , composite material , engineering , psychology , social psychology
This work investigates the influence of the hydration level on the molecular mobility and glass transition dynamics of freestanding chitosan/alginate (CHT/ALG) nanolayered systems. Nonconventional dynamic mechanical analysis identifies two relaxation processes assigned to the α ‐relaxation of the two biopolymers, respectively, CHT and ALG, when immersed in water/ethanol mixtures. This phenomenon explains the shape memory properties of the multilayered systems induced by hydration, thus constituting promising smart materials that would be of paramount importance in a plethora of research fields, including in the biomedical and biotechnological fields.