Thick free-standing polyelectrolyte membranes made of chitosan and alginate

Free-standing films (FS) have increasing applications in the biomedical field as drug delivery systems, for wound healing and tissue engineering.[1]. In previous studies, FS membranes based on polyelectrolyte multilayer films have been produced in mild conditions without any post-processing step [2,3].

In this work, we investigated the elaboration of free-standing multilayer films made of chitosan (CHI) and alginate (ALG), by detaching a polyelectrolyte multilayer film from its underlying substrate without any postprocessing step. The conditions for optimized film growth were investigated and the morphology and the chemical properties of the (CHI/ALG) multilayer films were characterized. The results demonstrate that the (CHI/ALG) can be used for applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.