Spontaneous and Electrochemical Reduction of Silver by Polypyrrole Deposits

One pot synthesis of polypyrrole silver nanocomposite on cotton fabrics for multifunctional property

Polymer-silver nanocomposites modified cotton fabrics were prepared by in situ chemical oxidative polymerization using pyrrole and silver nitrate. In a redox reaction between pyrrole and silver nitrate, silver ions oxidize the pyrrole monomer and get reduced. This reduced silver as nanoparticles deposited on/into the polypyrrole/cotton matrix layer and the interaction between silver and polypyrrole was by adsorption or electrostatic interaction. The structure and composite formation on cotton fiber was investigated using SEM, FT-IR, XPS and XRD. The results showed that a strong interaction existing between silver nanoparticles with polypyrrole/cotton matrix. FT-IR studies clearly indicated that the interaction between polypyrrole (-N-H) and cellulose (>C-OH) was by hydrogen bonding. It is observed that the conductivity of the composite coated fabrics has been increased by the incorporation of silver nanoparticles. In the synthesized composites, silver content plays an important role in the conductivity and antimicrobial activity rate of the fabrics against gram positive Staphylococcus aureus and gram negative Escherichia coli bacteria.