Chitosan has drawn tremendous interest in both academic and industrial fields due to its non-toxicity, antibacterial activity, biodegradability and high biocompatibility. This work presents a method to synthesize a class of chitosan aerogels with improved mechanical properties, deriving from chitosan sols in an aqueous aluminum ion medium. The initial urea concentration had a significant effect on the microstructure of chitosan aerogels. The pores in chitosan aerogels with low concentrations were primary mesoporous, for high urea concentrations the pores were dominated by macropores. Besides, the obtained chitosan aerogels can sustain a compressive strain of 80% without fracture or cracks and recover 5–15%. Thus, this work can provide a reference for preparation of chitosan aerogels with improved mechanical properties in the future.

壳聚糖由于其无毒、抗菌活性、生物降解性和高生物相容性而在学术和工业领域引起了极大的兴趣。这项工作提出了一种合成一类具有改进机械性能的壳聚糖气凝胶的方法，该气凝胶来源于铝离子水介质中的壳聚糖溶胶。初始尿素浓度对壳聚糖气凝胶的微观结构有显着影响。低浓度壳聚糖气凝胶中的孔隙是初级介孔，对于高尿素浓度，孔隙以大孔为主。此外，获得的壳聚糖气凝胶可以承受 80% 的压缩应变而不会断裂或开裂，并能恢复 5-15%。因此，该工作可为今后制备具有改进机械性能的壳聚糖气凝胶提供参考。