Bio-based conductive composites: preparation and properties of polypyrrole (PPy)-coated silk fabrics

Silk fabrics were coated with electrically conducting doped polypyrrole (PPy) by in situ oxidative polymerisation from an aqueous solution of pyrrole (Py) at room temperature, by using FeCl3 as catalyst. The amount of polymer deposited on the fabrics increased with increasing the reaction time or the concentration of Py in the reaction system. PPy-coated silk fabrics were characterized by optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and thermal analysis (differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric (TG)).