Waste print paper generated cellulose-chitosan composite film for cell attachment application

There has been a growing emphasis on developing products from renewable resources, considering the environmental concerns. The use of newspapers to produce cellulose films for packaging applications is known, but tissue engineering remains an unexplored aspect. Thus, our emphasis was on exploring waste print paper for tissue engineering applications. In this study, chitosan-cellulose composite films were prepared from waste print paper processed by alkali treatment. The films were prepared by dispersing and blending dried cellulose pulp with chitosan in acetic acid, with 3% glycerol as the plasticizer. The XRD analysis shows the film's amorphous nature. Compared to pure chitosan film, the blended film showed a 10% increase in tensile strength and was hydrophilic. The prepared composite was transparent, flexible, non-adhesive, and with high swelling ratio. The cell culture study shows significant attachment and proliferation of L929 cells on the cellulose-chitosan composite film after 24 h. The cells maintained their defined structure on pure chitosan and the cellulose-chitosan blended films. A cell viability study shows the films are non-toxic. Thus, waste print paper is a potential renewable resource for the preparation of cellulose-chitosan composite films for biomedical applications.