Unraveling the Effect of the Hydration Level on the Molecular Mobility of Nanolayered Polymeric Systems

This work investigates the influence of the hydration level on the molecular mobility and glass transition dynamics of free-standing chitosan/alginate (CHT/ALG) nanolayered systems. Non-conventional dynamic mechanical analysis identified two relaxation processes assigned to the α-relaxation of the two biopolymers, respectively CHT and ALG, when immersed in water/ethanol mixtures. This phenomenon explains the shape memory properties of the multilayered systems induced by hydration, thus constituting promising smart materials that would be of paramount importance in a plethora of research fields, including in the biomedical and biotechnological fields.