Recent Progress in Preparation and Application of Nano‐Chitin Materials

Abstract

Chitin is a kind of natural macromolecule material which was first discovered in mushrooms and was widely found in the shells of crustaceans and arthropods, the cell walls of fungi (yeast and mold) and algae, and the mollusks. The original chitin in nature usually has an antiparallel molecular chain alignment forming nanofibers connected by inter-and intramolecular hydrogen bonds. These microfibers consist of nanofibers about 2-5 nm in diameter, and about 300 nm long, embedded by protein matrices. Due to their unique dimensional, optical, mechanical, and other characteristics, the preparation of nano-chitin materials is an important subject. It is possible to extract nano-chitins from their sources with various methods, including acid hydrolysis, mechanical disintegration, TEMPO-mediated oxidation, electrospinning, and others. In this article, the latest progress in recent years in the preparation and applications of nano-chitin were reviewed. The morphology of the nano-chitins obtained from the above methods was presented. The advantages and disadvantages of each method were analyzed. An overview of applications of nano-chitins was discussed, including biomedicine, food applications, water treatment, green electronic materials, enzyme immobilization carriers, cotton textile materials, cosmetics, and others. REVIEW Nano-Chitin Materials

Mesoporous Fe–Al-doped cellulose for the efficient removal of reactive dyes

“…1 Biosorption studies using a natural polymer in its native or modified state are gaining more importance nowadays. A number of naturally occurring polymers that are abundantly available in nature and upon proper treatment have been reported as effective adsorbents are cellulose, 2-4 chitin 5,6 and chitosan, [7][8][9][10][11] alginates, 12,13 clays, 14 magnetic ferrites 15,16 and resins. 17,18 They are applied for the removal of various water pollutants such as heavy metals, 19,20 dyes in single 21,22 and binary systems, 23 pesticides, paints etc.…”

Nanochitin whisker enhances insecticidal activity of chemical pesticide for pest insect control and toxicity

“…Chitin and its derivatives have been proved lack of toxicity and not expected to harm people, pets, and wildlife, generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status as a food additive by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration [ 57 – 59 ]. Nanochitin material has been widely used in biomedical development with good biocompatibility, biodegradability, and non-cytotoxicity [ 60 ]. Zhao et al [ 47 ] reported that nanochitin whiskers exhibited low toxicity at concentration lower than 50 µg/mL and had better cytocompatibility at 200 µg/mL concentration.…”

Comprehensive review on pre-treatment of native, crystalline chitin using non-toxic and mechanical processes in preparation for biomaterial applications

“…The polymer can then be altered and rearranged to produce shapes and characteristics for the specific application. 15,68,69 The MW, DDA, cross-linking of the polymer chains and other molecular characteristics influence the mechanical properties of the product. 24,30…”

“…The polymer can then be altered and rearranged to produce shapes and characteristics for the specific application. 15,68,69 The MW, DDA, cross-linking of the polymer chains and other molecular characteristics influence the mechanical properties of the product. 24,30 Nanomaterials can be produced by a "top-down" or "bottom-up" approach: top-down refers to the production of nanofibers by fibrillation (separation of thick fibres into many thin fibres), while the bottom-up approach refers to the reassembly of nanofibers from a dissolved state, for example by self-assembly or electro-spinning.…”

“…24,30 Nanomaterials can be produced by a "top-down" or "bottom-up" approach: top-down refers to the production of nanofibers by fibrillation (separation of thick fibres into many thin fibres), while the bottom-up approach refers to the reassembly of nanofibers from a dissolved state, for example by self-assembly or electro-spinning. 69,70 Biological methods for nanomaterial design such as enzymatic hydrolysis or molecular modifications are attractive due to non-toxicity, ambient reaction conditions and the high target selectivity. 30 However, the tight crystalline network of native chitin presents a nearimpenetrable barrier to proteolytic and chitinolytic enzymes.…”