One-step UV-induced modification of cellulose fabrics by polypyrrole/silver nanocomposite films Mohamed F. Attia a , Tahar Azib b , Zakaria Salmi b , Ajay Singh c , Philippe Decorse b , Nicolas Battaglini b , Hélène Lecoq b , Mária Omastová d , Asha A. Higazy a , Amira M. Elshafei a , Mohamed M. Hashem a , Mohamed M. Chehimi b,⇑ a National Research Center, P.O. 12622, Cairo, Egypt b Univ Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, ITODYS, UMR 7086, CNRS F-75013 Paris, France c Technical Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai 400 085, India d Polymer Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 41 Bratislava, Slovakia article info Article history: Received 3 August 2012 Accepted 5 November 2012 Available online 29 November 2012 Keywords: Cellulose Polypyrrole Silver Photopolymerization Nanocomposites abstract Cellulose fabrics were coated with polypyrrole–silver (PPy/Ag) nanocomposite films via one pot photopo- lymerization in aqueous media. This process was optimized for various concentrations of pyrrole/textile weight ratios with fixed molar ratio of [pyrrole]/[AgNO 3 ] as 2.5. Simple weight measurements of the fab- rics indicated progressive coating of PPy/Ag versus initial pyrrole/fabric weight ratio and photopolymer- ization time. X-ray diffraction (XRD) data confirm the nano-size (10–30 nm) and metallic state of Ag crystallites. The metallic state of silver particles was also confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). We demonstrate that UV-induced polymerization of pyrrole in the presence of AgNO 3 is simple and fast compared to chemical oxidative polymerization in the absence of UV light. More importantly, it per- mits to coat cellulose fabrics in one pot by polypyrrole/Ag nanocomposites films in environmentally friendly aqueous solutions at room temperature. Ó 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Cellulose is the most abundant organic raw material; it exists in various forms and has always been a part of nature and human life, such as wood, paper, or cotton fabrics. Cellulose has applications in diverse areas for instance composite materials, textiles, drug deliv- ery systems, and personal care products [1,2]. It is an inexpensive material biodegradable and renewable resource that has received a great attention for its physical and chemical properties. The surface structure of cellulose is substantially significant, which contains highly active and attractive hydroxyl groups toward various chem- ical modifications with polymer, inorganic, or hybrid organic/inor- ganic layers before use [3] in order to impart new or improve existing properties such as hydrophobicity [4], UV blocking layer [5], fire resistance coating [6], conductivity [7] to name but a few. Many researches focused on the use of intrinsically conductive polymers [8] like polypyrrole and polyaniline due to their fascinat- ing applications in electrode materials and organic electronics de- vices, which led to the development of new class of smart materials. These have been applied to manufacturing of transistors and light emitting diodes [9], organic electrodes [10,11], biosensors [12], functional textiles [13,14], corrosion protection, and coating for fuel cells [15,16]. Polypyrrole is an attractive polymer for its electrical conductivity and for environmental stability and also the relative ease of synthesis via chemical, electrochemical, and photochemical routes [17]. Whereas the polypyrrole itself has poor mechanical properties, however, by coating PPy or in situ polymer- ization of pyrrole on the surface of fibers and fabrics like cellulose [18–20], cellulose derivatives [13,21,22], protein fibers [18], and synthetic textile fibers [23], new composite materials with unprec- edented properties were designed. These composites not only in- herit chemical and mechanical properties of the substrates, but also retain the electrical conducting properties of PPy as well [24,25]. Many conducting polymer-modified synthetic textiles could be used in emerging technologies like electron charge dissi- pation [26], electromagnetic shielding [27], and scaffolds for tissue engineering [28–30]. Metal nanoparticles are mainly utilized in many applications such as water purification, catalysis of chemical reactions, and hydrogen storage. Due to their high active surface area, metal nanoparticles tend to agglomerate to form larger size particles. In order to prevent this process and to stabilize and control the nano- particles structures, various biological templates, dendrimers, syn- thetic polymers, natural polymers, surfactants, and carbon 0021-9797/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2012.11.008 ⇑ Corresponding author. Fax: +33 1 5727 7263. E-mail addresses: chehimi@univ-paris-diderot.fr, chehimi@paris7.jussieu.fr (M.M. Chehimi). Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 393 (2013) 130–137 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Colloid and Interface Science www.elsevier.com/locate/jcis