Abstract
Polymer films were cast from aqueous solutions of chitosan (CS) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) in employing tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as a crosslinking agent. Different amounts of TEOS were used and the presence of siloxane bond was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The swelling behavior of the films was determined by exploring the time-dependent swelling in distilled water. The swelling kinetics showed a linear increase and achieved maximum value within half an hour. The emergence of one arc in complex impedance plane plot exhibited the presence of one type of relaxation process. The ac conductivity was also calculated which was increased from 2.55x10(-12) to 9.05x10(-12) Omega(-1) cm(-1) as the amount of crosslinker was increased from 2 to 6 %. Further increase in the amount of crosslinker (up to 10 %) reduced the conductivity to minimum value of 0.24x10(-12) Omega(-1) cm(-1). The novel properties of the biocompatible films can be utilized in biomedical applications concerning the biological systems which require smaller charge in medicinal apparatus, bioelectrodes coatings, etc.