Production of conductive bacterial cellulose-polyaniline membranes in the presence of metal salts

This study presents a cost-effective method of enhancing the electrical conductivity and washing durability of bacterial cellulose (BC)-polyaniline (PANI) membrane by the addition of metal salt. In this study, two types of metal salts were tested: copper (II) sulfate and iron (II) sulfate. The optimal condition to produce BC-PANI-metal salt membranes was 0.05% (w/v) of copper (II) sulfate (copper salt). X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the crystallinity of BC-PANI increased after adding copper salt. According to the increased degree of crystallinity, the polymer chain structure of BC-PANI-copper salt (BC-PANI-Cu) was more organized than that of BC-PANI, as confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. In addition, this ordered structure of BC-PANI-Cu indicated enhanced electrical conductivity. Moreover, the addition of copper salt improved the electrical conductivity of BC-PANI to a level about 3.8 times higher than that of BC-PANI produced without metal salt, and it retained about 40% of its original electrical conductivity after three washing cycles. From the results, the addition of copper salt improved both the electrical conductivity and washing durability of the BC-PANI membrane.