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Electroactive Polymer Nanoparticles Exhibiting Photothermal Properties
Published on: January 8, 2016
Strong and electrically conductive nanopaper from cellulose nanofibers and polypyrrole
Makara Lay1, J Alberto Méndez2, Marc Delgado-Aguilar2
1LEPAMAP Group, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Agricultural and Food Technology, University of Girona, C/Maria Aurèlia Capmany 61, 17071 Girona, Spain; Dept. of Geo-resources and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Technology of Cambodia, PP Box 86, Russian Conf. Blvd. Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Abstract:
In this work, we prepare cellulose nanopapers of high mechanical performance and with the electrical conductivity of a semiconductor. Cellulose nanofibers (CNF) from bleached softwood pulp were coated with polypyrrole (PPy) via in situ chemical polymerization, in presence of iron chloride (III) as oxidant agent. The structure and morphology of nanopapers were studied, as well as their thermal, mechanical and conductive properties. Nanopaper from pure CNF exhibited a very high tensile response (224MPa tensile strength and 14.5GPa elastic modulus). The addition of up to maximum 20% of polypyrrole gave CNF/PPy nanopapers of high flexibility and still good mechanical properties (94MPa strength and 8.8GPa modulus). The electrical conductivity of the resulting CNF/PPy nanopaper was of 5.2 10(-2)Scm(-1), with a specific capacitance of 7.4Fg(-1). The final materials are strong and conductive nanopapers that can find application as biodegradable flexible thin-film transistor (TFT) or as flexible biosensor.

