Thermal Degradation Kinetics of Chitosan/Phytic Acid Polyelectrolyte Complex as Investigated by Thermogravimetric Analysis

Abstract

Chitosan (CS) in slightly acidic solutions acts as a true polycation readily available for the negatively charged polyanions such as phytic acid (PA) to form polyelectrolyte complexes (PEC). These PECs depict unique properties by retaining the sustainable nature of the reactants involved. A kinetic analysis employing thermogravimetric analysis in the temperature range 30–600 °C via Flynn–Wall–Ozawa (FWO), Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose (KAS), Starink and Tang models at different heating rates; 7.5, 10, 15, 20 K/min were carried out. They depicted that the degradation of the PECs shows a multi-step reaction and the calculated activation energies showed a correlation (r2) close to unity.