Abstract
The aims of this study were to characterize the urea-loaded chitosan microspheres and determine the release kinetic constants and diffusion coefficients. An emulsion cross-linking method was used to prepare the urea-loaded chitosan microspheres. Urea was dissolved in a solution of chitosan then put into vegetable oil and stirred to form an emulsion. Glutaraldehyde saturated toluene (GST) was added into the emulsion dropwise while continuously stirring for the solidification process. Chitosan microspheres filled with urea were washed, dried, and then analyzed. Characterization of the urea-loaded chitosan microspheres was conducted using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and particle size distribution. The cumulative release analysis was used to determine the amount of urea released from the chitosan microspheres and determine the release kinetic constants and diffusion coefficients. The chitosan microspheres had a good spherical geometry with a smooth surface and crystallinity of 95.5 - 98.18%. They had a diameter in the range of 125.31 - 153.65 m and a cumulative release value in the range of 38.22 - 48.06%. Based on the kinetic analysis, the best kinetic models were models of Korsmeyer-Peppas, Peppas-Sahlin, and simple power law with the burst effect resulting in the highest R2 of 0.99. The diffusion coefficient obtained was in the range of 5.439 × 10-11 - 7.512 × 10-11 cm2/sec.
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