S.R. Khairkar^1,, A.R. Raut¹

Chitosan was grafted with polyaniline through oxidative-radical copolymerization using ammonium persulfate in acidic medium. The grafting conditions were extensively studied by varying grafting parameters. All the findings have been discussed and proposed a plausible mechanism for the graft copolymerization. The representative chitosan-graft-polyaniline (Ch-g-PANI) was characterized using UV-VIS, FTIR, DSC, XRD and Scanning electron microscopy taking chitosan as reference. Ch-g-PANI exhibited electrical conductivity, which increases with the extent of grafting onto chitosan backbone. The application of conducting biomaterial such as Ch-g- PANI in the electronic devices especially for the fabrication of sensor devices would be attractive not only in terms of product cost and environmental safety but also from a materials science point of view.

Biopolymers, Biocomposites, material testing, thermal properties, industrial applications