title: Synthesis and characterization of surface-functionalized conducting polyaniline-chitosan nanocomposite.
abstract: We describe in this paper an easy route to the synthesis of a novel surface-functionalized conducting polyaniline-chitosan nanocomposite. A stable colloidal dispersion was prepared when aniline was polymerized in the presence of chitosan as the steric stabilizer. TEM study shows that these surface-functionalized polyaniline-chitosan nanoparticles have rice-grain morphologies. The effect of reaction parameters on the mean size of the polyaniline-chitosan nanoparticles was studied. The steric electrostatic interaction between segments of these two polymers explains the excellent storage stability of the polyaniline-chitosan dispersion. Reaction parameters were optimized in order to get stable polyaniline-chitosan dispersion. The chemical structures of polyaniline-chitosan nanocomposite were characterized. FT-IR spectra of the polyaniline-chitosan nanocomposite show that there exist a certain interaction between polyaniline and chitosan. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectra show that chitosan is largely present at the surface of polyaniline-chitosan nanoparticles. The electrical conductivity of the polyaniline-chitosan nanocomposite increases with increasing the amount of polyaniline to a high value of 0.25 S/cm.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 3, Singapore, 117543.
authors.forename: Darning
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Haibing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Hardy S O
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000814:Aniline Compounds / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D048271:Chitosan / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D008422:Materials Testing; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D000814:Aniline Compounds; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; C416807:polyaniline; D048271:Chitosan