Journal of Nano Technology and Its Application in Engineering

Authors: Prajwal M, Sangamesha M.A, K. Pushpalatha

Abstract: In this study, weaver ant silk fibroin / highly conductive polymer (viz. polypyrrole and polyaniline) composites (WSF/PPY and WSF/PANI) were successfully prepared by in situ polymerisation, using silk fibroin from the weaver ant and conductive polymers. The properties of WSF/polymer composites have been investigated using optical microscope, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) spectroscopy and UV-visible spectroscopy. Surface morphology studies indicate that the conducting layer on the fibers is relatively compact and uniform. The FTIR analysis indicated the successful coating of the polymer by shifting of peaks in the spectra, and the spectrum for WSF showed amide I, amide II, amide III, C-H and C-O peaks, which were attributed to random coil and β-sheet conformation in the protein structure. The observed conductivity for the composites are in the range of 0.098856S cm- 1, 0.1Scm-1 and the average diameters are found to be 75±50nm, 70±25nm for PPy/WSF and PANI/WSF respectively. Nevertheless, the prepared composites are having good compatibility, the results of this work provided an evidence for the conducting properties and it may be a potential alternative matrix for application in wide areas such as medicine, defence, electronics, etc.