Electrophoretic fabrication of a robust chitosan/polyethylene glycol/polydopamine composite film for UV-shielding application

Bo-Han Huang; Shih-Yuan Li; Yu-Jie Chiou; David Chojniak; Shih-Cheng Chou; Vienna Chi Man Wong; San-Yuan Chen; Pu-Wei Wu

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2021.118560

Electrophoretic fabrication of a robust chitosan/polyethylene glycol/polydopamine composite film for UV-shielding application

Carbohydr Polym. 2021 Dec 1:273:118560. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2021.118560. Epub 2021 Aug 14.

Authors

Bo-Han Huang¹, Shih-Yuan Li¹, Yu-Jie Chiou¹, David Chojniak², Shih-Cheng Chou¹, Vienna Chi Man Wong³, San-Yuan Chen⁴, Pu-Wei Wu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan, ROC.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen 72762, Germany; Division Photovoltaics, Group III-V Cell and Module Characterization, Fraunhofer-Institut für Solare Energiesysteme ISE, Heidenhofstraße 2, 79110 Freiburg, Germany.
³ School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan, ROC; Graduate Institute of Biomedical Science, China Medical University, Taichung 406, Taiwan, ROC.
⁵ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: ppwu@mail.nctu.edu.tw.

PMID: 34560971
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2021.118560

Abstract

The film-forming process of chitosan composite films is an important issue because it affects their experimental design, chemicals used, and feasibility of large-scaled fabrication. In this work, electrophoresis is employed to produce chitosan composite films with significantly reduced processing time and environmentally friendly chemicals. With the addition of hydrogen peroxide and polyethylene glycol, the parasitic hydrogen bubble formation during the electrophoresis of chitosan and polydopamine is effectively inhibited that leads to the formation of a defectless chitosan/polyethylene glycol/polydopamine composite film which could be removed from the substrate readily. In addition, the chitosan/polyethylene glycol/polydopamine composite film reveals significantly improved tensile strength and a slower decomposition rate as compared to those of chitosan film and chitosan/polyethylene glycol composite film. This is attributed to the strong interaction between chitosan and polydopamine. Lastly, the chitosan/polyethylene glycol/polydopamine composite film exhibits excellent UV-shielding ability without compromising its visible transparency.

Keywords: Chitosan; Composite film; Electrophoresis; Polydopamine; Polyethylene glycol; UV-shielding.