Preparation of spider-silk-polyaniline hybrid fibers

ABSTRACT

Spider silk fibers could be coated with polyaniline by immersing them into a suspension that contains aniline, an emulsifier and an oxidizing agent. Scanning electron imaging showed that the immersion time and immersion cycles influence polyaniline adsorption. Furthermore, the fibers became conductive upon exposing to acidic gas.

KEYWORDS:

• In-situ polymerization
• load-elongation
• polyaniline
• conductivity
• spider silk
• surface coating

Acknowledgments

Some of the experimental equipment used in this work is managed by the Nanotechnology Platform Program (Molecule and Material Synthesis) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan.