Proton-conductive electrospun nanofibers are promising potential materials for several advanced technological applications such batteries, sensors, and fuel cells. In this work, we prepared poly(vinyl butyral)/polyaniline (PVB/PANI) nanofibers via electrospinning and determined their proton conductivities. Structural characterization of the nanofibers was performed by FTIR analysis. Surface morphology of the nanofibers was determined by SEM and AFM. The addition of PANI significantly affected the fiber morphology, and over 90% reduction (with respect to neat PVB nanofibers) in the average nanofiber diameters was observed. Nanofiber mats were doped with polyphosphoric acid. The proton conductivity of the 2 wt.% PANI containing blend nanofibers was found as 18 × 10 −6 S/cm at room temperature and at 100% humidity.
K E Y W O R D Satomic force microscopy, electrospinning, poly(vinyl butyral), polyaniline, proton conductivity
Chemically synthesized polyaniline (PANI) was used as polymeric support for xylanase immobilization. The polymer was first activated with glutaraldehyde and then xylanase was successfully immobilized. Xylanase bound polymer was characterized using FTIR. The optimum pH of the immobilized enzyme was at pH 5, which was shifted 1.0 pH unit to the acidic region when compared to the free enzyme. Thermal stability of the xylanase was improved with the immobilization. The characteristic properties of the immobilized and native enzyme, such as kinetic activity, reusability and storage stability were also studied at optimum pH and temperature. Immobilized enzyme exhibited better reusability and storage stability than the free one. Vmax values for the free and immobilized enzymes were calculated as 1.44 and 0.44 mg/mL/min, respectively. The Km values for the immobilized xylanase were found to be lower.
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