Flexible Conductive Fibers from Alginate, Cellulose Nanocrystals, and Polyaniline by Wet Spinning

Abstract

Polyaniline (PANI) has indeed received significant attention and extensive research in both academic and electronic industrial fields. Its unique properties, such as conductivity and processability, make it a promising material for various applications. Researchers and industrialists have explored PANI for its potential use in electronic devices, such as sensors, batteries, capacitors, and actuators, as well as in other areas like corrosion protection, supercapacitors, and electromagnetic shielding. The poor compatibility, tendency to aggregate, and poor mechanical properties of nanostructured PANI have hindered its performance. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were used as a bio-template for covalent grafting PANI onto hydrophilic CNCs (CNC-g-PANI) through in situ oxidative polymerization. The resulting CNC-g-PANI suspension with the sodium alginate (SA) matrix was wet-spun into composite fibers, which were compared to composite fibers made by physical blending of pure PANI and hydrogen-bonded CNC/PANI. The parameters were characterized to investigate the performance of the composite fibers. The covalent grafted CNC-g-PANI suspension maintained stable dispersion throughout the wet spinning process, making it suitable for both fundamental research and industrial processing. Indeed, the development of CNC-g-PANI@SA composite fibers through the covalent grafting of PANI onto cellulose nanocrystals offers a simple and eco-friendly approach. These composite fibers exhibit improved properties, including enhanced tensile strength, electrical conductivity, flexibility, and fatigue resistance. These attributes make them highly suitable for applications in the antistatic textile and electronic industries.