Polyaniline-thiacalix[4]arene metallopolymer – self-doped, and externally doped conductive polymers
A new article deals with the conductivity increment of polyaniline (PANI) through the synthesis of redox polymer and intrinsically conductive polymers (ICP) with thiacalix[4]arene (TCA) segment combination.
A redox polymerwas prepared through the copolymerisation of PANI and TCA to givemetallopolymers of PANI-TCA. Two diverse ICPs were also synthesized; thefirst was prepared through emulsion polymerisation of PANI in thepresence of sulfonated TCA as an external dopant named doped PANI-TCAand the second was prepared by the covalently bonding of TCA to PANIchains to give self-doped PANI-TCA.
The polymerisation conditionwas carefully designed to give nanocomposites for each conductivepolymer which was confirmed by XRD, SEM, AFM and TEM measurements. Theconductivity of the nanocomposites was compared and their valuableanticorrosion property was studied through Tafel plots.
Probability to be used as implants
Theantioxidant study of the conductive polymers through DPPH assayrevealed an inhibition up to circa 80 % for the self-doped PANI-TCA.Protection against bacterial infection was also investigated for thenanocompsites through the Kirby-Bauer technique to reveal theirprobability to be used as implants.
The study has been published in Progress in Organic Coatings, Volume 146, September 2020.
