Gum ghatti based novel electrically conductive biomaterials: A study of conductivity and surface morphology

Gum ghatti-cl-poly(acrylamide-aniline) interpenetrating network (IPN) was synthesized by a two-step aqueous polymerization method, in which aniline monomer was absorbed into the network of gum ghatti-cl-poly(acrylamide) and followed by a polymerization reaction between aniline monomers. Initially, semi-IPN based on acrylamide and gum ghatti was prepared by free-radical copolymerization in aqueous media with optimized process parameters, using N, N'-methylenebis- acrylamide, as cross-linker and ammonium persulfate, as an initiator system. Optimum reaction conditions affording maximum percentage swelling were: solvent [mL] = 12, Acrylamide (AAm) [mol.L-1] = 1.971, Ammonium peroxydisulfate (APS) [mol.L-1] = 0.131 . 10(-1), N, N'-methylene-bis-acrylamide (MBA) [mol . L-1] = 0.162 . 10(-1), reaction time [min] = 210, temperature [C] = 100 and pH = 7.0. The resulting IPN was doped with different protonic acids. The effect of the doping has been investigated on the conductivity and surface morphology of the IPN hydrogel. The maximum conductivity was observed with 1.5N HClO4 concentration. The morphological, structural and electrical properties of the candidate polymers were studied using scanning electron micrscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy FTIR and two-probe method, respectively.