Mechanical properties of self-assembled chitin nanofiber networks

J Mater Chem B. 2014 May 7;2(17):2461-2466. doi: 10.1039/c3tb21550d. Epub 2013 Dec 9.

Abstract

Chitin nanofibers are structural components of the insect cuticle, the exoskeleton of crabs, and mollusk shells. Chitin nanofibers have found broad use in biomedical applications. Here, we study structure-properties-processing relationships of 3 nm chitin nanofiber networks self-assembled from a chitin hexafluoroisopropanol solution.