Morphological, structural and electrical properties of polypyrrole nanocoated bamboo cellulose fibre

Abstract

Bamboo cellulose fibres have been coated with polypyrrole and the coated fibres are then characterized for various properties. The changes in surface morphology and particle distribution are studied by scanning and transmission electron microscopy which indicate the formation of nano-coating of polypyrrole over the fibre surface, as the average diameter of the particles forming the surface layer is found 50 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy reveals that the chemical structure of the natural fibres remains unchanged even after the nano coating, though the individual characteristics of pyrrole appears therein. Electrical resistance of the coated fibres, measured by two probe method, shows decreasing trend with increasing pyrrole concentration. The value ranges from 1075 KΩ cm^-1 to 0.159 KΩ cm^-1 from 0.1% to 5% pyrrole. Further, it shows Ohmic nature for both the coated and uncoated fibres. Dielectric behavior of the current-voltage (I-V) plots of the coated fibres exhibits highly dispersive dielectric loss and similar behavior in its AC conductance, at low frequency range up to 7 kHz; beyond which its conductance is stabilized.