Advancing the utility of conductive polysaccharide-based (i.e., agar, alginate, pectin) composite materials for charge transfer applications requires effective surface functionalization and dopant matching to overcome electron transfer limitations in these dielectric materials. One approach is design of a biomimetic nanocomposite material, which utilized Fe-carboxyl coordination chemistry to photoinitiate the radical polymerization of polyaniline (PANI) uniformly throughout an agar/alginate polymer matrix. Results from this work showed the feasibility of establishing a responsive carbon-based sensor, capable of modulating charge transfer performance in the presence of different dopants (i.e., hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, polyelectrolyte). The aim of this work seeks to build upon these previous findings, by unraveling the dopant-specific charge transport mechanisms as they relate to the mobility and polarizability of the dopant (i.e., HCl, H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>, polyelectrolyte) incorporated. In addition, a network-level understanding on how changing the identity of the polymer backbone (i.e., alginate, pectin) and the conductive polymer (i.e., aniline, pyrrole, thiophene) alters the charge transfer efficiency and overall stability of the conductive matrix. Results reveal the current voltage (I-V) sweeps of n-doped conducting polymer nanocomposites show enhanced current flow and reduced internal resistance compared to non-functionalized controls. Furthermore, the backbone/dopant/conducting polymer match is critical to achieving optimal performance.

Exploring doping effects in conductive biomimetic nanocomposites for charge transfer applications

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ACS Fall 2022

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