1Department of Chemistry, S. D. M. College of Engineering and Technology, Dharwad-580002, India.
2Department of Chemistry, Sri Krishna Institute of Technology, Bangalore, India.
Department of Chemistry and Institute of Basic Science, Inje University, Gimhae, Kyungnam-621–749, South Korea.
*Corresponding Author Email: nshashidharreddy@gmail.com
Online published on 13 February, 2013.
Polypyrrole (PPy) polymer composites were prepared via chemical polymerization of the pyrrole monomer in an aqueous solution using different weight percentages of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) (10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 wt%) as the dopant and ammonium per sulfate as the oxidant. The crystallinity of the synthesized PPy-PCL composites was determined using X-ray diffraction, and the surface morphology was observed under scanning electron and transmission electron microscopes. Thermogravimetry, differential thermogravimetry, and differential scanning calorimetry were used to study the thermal stability of the composites, which was found higher than that of pure PPy. The improvement in the thermal stability of the PPy-PCL composites is attributed to the interaction between PPy and PCL, which restricts the thermal motion of the PPy chains and prevents the degradation of PPy.
Biodegradable polymers, polymer blends, poly(ε-caprolactone), polypyrrole, thermal stability, TG-DTG
