Fabrication of electrically highly conductive, mechanically strong, and near-infrared responsive phytic acid crosslinked polypyrrole coated Korean paper

Abstract Herein, we present a mechanically strong, stable highly conductive Korean traditional paper “Hanji” membrane via the simple coating with the polypyrrole (PPy) and further crosslinked it by phytic acid (PA). The FE-SEM images exhibited the compact network formation upon the crosslinking. PA crosslinked samples exhibited superior thermal stability, tensile properties, and electrical conductivity as compared to the non-PA-containing membrane i.e. PPy@Hanji. Moreover, the PA crosslinked PPy coated Hanji mat exhibited photothermal properties and had shown excellent stability under the irradiation of 808 nm near-infrared (NIR) light. The improved performance of the PA containing membrane was attributed to the effective crosslinking effect of the PPy chains held by the hydrogen bonding with the PA. Thus, this study presents the strategy of the increasing thermal, electrical stability of the conductive polymer-based membranes which can be applied in various research areas such as sensing, energy storage, metal adsorption, and so on.