Chitosan/Alginate Dialdehyde Multilayer Films with Modulated pH-Responsiveness and Swelling

Oxidation of alginate is a promising method that creates aldehyde groups, which can form stable cross‐links with amine groups on chitosan. In this work, it is shown that a systematic variation in the oxidation degree of alginate dialdehyde allows for effective tuning of the swelling capacity of chitosan/alginate dialdehyde multilayer films. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the pH‐responsiveness of the multilayer films can be regulated by the choice of pH at which the layer‐by‐layer assembly is conducted. The combination of these two parameters allows for the designing polysaccharide multilayer films with a tunable degree of swelling and stimuli‐responsiveness.