RHEOLOGICAL STUDY OF GELS BASED ON CHITOSAN AND CARBON NANOTUBES

Abstract

Chitosan/carbon nanotubes associations have applications in tissue regeneration. This study reports on the rheological characterization of gels prepared by the mixture of chitosan and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCN). Rheological characterization was used to understand the internal structure of gels. Frequency tests of chitosan/SWCN showed that gels have elastic behavior, and also an increment in SWCN concentration increases G´ modulus. Gels had an increase in viscosity values of more than 10 times as a function of SWCN concentration. The addition of carbon nanotubes modified the behavior of gels as observed by temperature results. For all gels prepared with SWCN, G´ is higher than G´´ in the temperature range studied. SWCN changes the tridimensional network of chitosan and a new chain arrangement is obtained.