Construction of Flexible Kaolin/Chitin Composite Aerogels and Their Properties

In this work, kaolin/chitin (K/Ch) composite aerogels with different mass ratios were successfully fabricated via a freeze-drying approach. The influence of kaolin content on the microstructure, properties and hemostatic performance of the composite aerogels was systematically investigated. The results demonstrated that the incorporation of kaolin endowed the chitin-based aerogels with tunable porous structures, excellent water absorption capacity (up to 4282% for K_0.25/Ch₂), and enhanced water retention (73.7% for K₂/Ch₂ at 60 min). Moreover, the K/Ch composite aerogels exhibited good biodegradability, no cytotoxicity (cell viability > 91.9%), and no hemolysis (hemolysis rate < 1.5% at all test concentrations). In vitro hemostatic evaluations revealed that the composite aerogels exhibited rapid blood coagulation (blood clotting time of 16 s for K₂/Ch₂) with a blood coagulation index (BCI) as low as 0.5%, which was attributed to the synergistic effect of the physical adsorption of chitin and the coagulation cascade activation by kaolin. These findings indicated that the K/Ch composite aerogels could be used as novel natural hemostatic materials for potential effective and rapid hemostasis.