SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERISATION OF POLYANILINE GRAFTED CHITOSAN FILMS

Polymers were used as insulators of electricity & considered as non conducting material. Polyaniline (PANI) is one of the most commonly studied organic conducting polymer having wide applications. Chitosan is one of the most abundantly used biomaterial, which is similar to cellulose having easy biodegradability. Chitosan has various applications in industries such as medicine, food, textiles etc. It has potential to be used as sensing element in chemical and biosensor. The objective of the present work is to synthesize polyaniline grafted chitosan film followed by its characterization using FTIR, SEM & Electrochemical potential difference studies. Five film samples CP1- CP5 of varying proportions of these two materials are prepared. From the interpretation of IR data it is clear that the grafted copolymer PANi-g-chit has characteristic peaks of PANi and chitosan, which could be a strong evidence of grafting. SEM images of samples CP1 to CP5 have clearly indicated grafting of polyaniline on the surface of chitosan, however the distribution may not be uniform and as homogenous at places. The Electrochemical potential difference of electrode made of polyaniline grafted chitosan is more than graphite powder coated electrode by magnitudes of 10 to 20 %. Hence it can be concluded that the present work has demonstrated successfully the development of composite film of polyaniline grafted chitosan with enhanced electrochemical properties. The work is demonstrative and more experimental runs are required to validate the claim further