Preparing Chitosan-Poly(acrylic Acid) Composite Fibers by Self-Assembly at an Aqueous Solution Interface

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Abstract
In this work, we describe chitosan-poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) fibers formed at the interface of aqueous solutions by means of polyion complex (PIC) formation between chitosan and PAA. We examine the spinning conditions, tensile strengths, and load-extensibility curves of the chitosan-PAA PIC fibers. Chitosan-PAA fibers are spinnable by gravity and by wet spinning in ethanol. The resulting chitosan-PAA composite fibers are water-insoluble, and the highest tensile strength is 20 kgf/mm 2 using 1.0% chitosan and 1.0% PAA. From the load-extensibility curves, chitosan-PAA fibers exhibit higher softness and toughness than chitosan-gellan fibers, as we previously reported. Thus, the chitosan-PAA PIC fiber is a new composite fiber composed of a polysaccharide and a vinyl polymer.