Gum Arabic‐Graft‐Polyaniline: An Electrically Active Redox Biomaterial for Sensor Applications

The radical copolymerization of gum Arabic and polyaniline was done using peroxydisulfate as oxidant and initiator. The produced copolymer was electrically active, water‐soluble and has redox property. The redox behavior of the copolymer was studied using cyclic voltammetry and compared with the pure polyaniline. The UV‐vis, FTIR, ¹H‐NMR, XRD, TGA and SEM techniques have been used for the characterization of grafted biomaterial. The copolymerization was systematically optimized and it was observed that solubility of the copolymers in water decreased with an increase in % G. The intrinsic viscosity of the copolymer has been estimated to be 10.8 dL/g, which indicates an appreciably high molecular weight for the copolymer. The shelf life and electrical conductivity of the copolymer were monitored to evaluate their potential application in the fabrication of semiconductor sensor devices. Results are discussed and proposed a plausible mechanism for the copolymerization.

Keywords:

• gum arabic
• polyaniline
• graft copolymer
• conducting biomaterial
• redox behavior
• sensor

5 Acknowledgements

The author is thankful to the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India for generous financial support and to the Director, National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, India for providing infrastructure facilities to carry out this work.