Effect of electrochemical degradation on the structure of chitosan using Ti/RuO2-TiO2 electrode

Effect of electrochemical degradation on the structure of chitosan using Ti/RuO₂-TiO₂ electrode was investigated in detail. The result of electrolysis of chitosan in a diaphragm cell indicated that Ti/RuO₂-TiO₂ anode was the key electrode for degradation of chitosan which was unaffected by the cathode. The structures of the original and degraded chitosan were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR), Ultraviolet spectra (UV), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TG). The results of FT-IR and UV suggested the chemical structure of degraded chitosan was not obviously modified besides the new formed carboxylic or carboxyl side groups. Moreover, the results of XRD and TG indicated that the crystallinity and thermostability of degraded chitosan both decreased a little compared with the original chitosan. Therefore, the electrochemical process was efficient for reducing the molecular weight of chitosan, without altering its main chain structure.