Preparation and blood compatibility of new silica-chitosan hybrid biomaterials.

The development of new materials containing both organic and inorganic structures is of great interest with respect to achievement of obtaining the special properties, and the solgel process has provided new opportunities for making such materials. In this paper, new silica-chitosan hybrid biomaterials were produced by this technique, using biopolymer chitosan and its heparin-like derivative as the organic species to be incorporated into the silicon alkoxide (TEOS) based network. All the samples made were in form of thin, flexible films with optical clarity. Microphase separated structure was observed in the hybrid surface, with hydrophobic SiO2 and hydrophilic chitosan interleaved. These hybrid materials displayed good blood compatibility in comparison with their single component systems.