文摘
The structure of chitin nanofibrils as a promising filler for bioresorbable suture materials and matrixes for cellular technologies and tissue engineering is investigated via the methods of X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. It is shown that the powder microparticles obtained via lyophilization of an aqueous dispersion of chitin nanofibrils have a band structure with a cross-sectional size of 30 μm and a thickness of 0.1 μm. The bands consist of nanoparticles 25 nm in thickness and 400-00 nm in length. The chitin nanofibrils are composed of two crystallites with cross-sectional sizes of 11-2 nm and b axes perpendicular to the nanofibril axis. The chitin nanofibrils tend to form planar elements with a layered structure on both the microlevel and the nanolevel. The addition of chitin nanofibrils to a chitosan solution leads to a rise in its viscosity. However, the action of shear stresses leads to a substantial decrease in the chitosan-chitin solution viscosity, a phenomenon that is due to the presence of planar anisodiametric nanoparticles of chitin.