Chitosan-based hydrogels: Preparation, properties and applications

Chitosan (CS), the second most plentiful natural polysaccharide next to cellulose, has valuable characteristics including biocompatibility, nontoxicity and biodegradability. CS is broken down in the human body to innocuous products (amino sugars). Hydrogels are polymeric materials with three dimensional networks retaining a huge quantity of water within their structures which are of great interest in biomedical/environmental applications....