Cellulose-based electrospun fibers functionalized with polypyrrole and polyaniline for fully organic batteries

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. 256 - 265
• Main Authors: Baptista, A. C., Ropio, I., Romba, B., Nobre, J. P., Henriques, C., Silva, J. C., Martins, J. I., Borges, J. P., Ferreira, I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 2018
• Subjects: Acetic acid; Aniline; Batteries; Biomedical materials; Cellulose acetate; Cellulose fibers; Electrospinning; Fibers; Oxidation; Polyanilines; Polymer matrix composites; Polypyrroles
• ISSN: 2050-7488; 2050-7496
• DOI: 10.1039/C7TA06457H

A novel cellulose-based bio-battery made of electrospun fibers activated by biological fluids has been developed. This work reports a new concept for a fully organic bio-battery that takes advantage of the high surface to volume ratio achieved by an electrospun matrix composed of sub-micrometric fibers that acts simultaneously as the separator and the support of the electrodes. Polymer composites of polypyrrole (PPy) and polyaniline (PANI) with cellulose acetate (CA) electrospun matrix were produced by in situ chemical oxidation of pyrrole and aniline on the CA fibers. The structure (CA/PPy|CA|CA/PANI) generated a power density of 1.7 mW g −1 in the presence of simulated biological fluids, which is a new and significant contribution to the domain of medical batteries and fully organic devices for biomedical applications.