Characterisation of chitosan/hyaluronic acid blend films modified by collagen

In the present study, thin films based on the blends of chitosan (Ch) and hyaluronic acid (HA) with and without collagen (Coll) were characterised using tensile tests, attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Ch/HA and Ch/HA/Coll polymer blends were prepared using the solvent evaporation technique. The interactions between polymer components in the binary and ternary blends were studied by FTIR analysis. Mechanical properties were studied and compared with those of simple polymer films. These results show that the addition of collagen into Ch/HA blends led to the increase of tensile strength and Young modulus. Moreover, it was found that the thermal stability of the Ch/HA binary blend significantly increased upon the addition of collagen.