The effect of electrochemically polymerized pyrrole on the physicochemical properties and biological activity of carbon materials

Abstract Many of the vital processes in the human body are electrochemical in nature. Therefore, medical applications of electrochemistry show great promise. Particularly, detoxification by electrochemically controlled hemosorption combines biocompatibility of activated carbon with high adsorption activity toward toxic compounds. The present work involved the development of a controlled detoxification process using carbon adsorbents modified with polypyrrole. The electropolymerization of pyrrole on AG-3 activated carbon, which was initially quite aggressive towards erythrocytes, made it biocompatible. Glassy carbon and activated carbon were used to study the effect of polypyrrole on the physicochemical and biological activity of carbon materials. The magnitude and direction of open circuit potential shifts for these carbon materials depended on the conditions of electropolymerization. Adsorption activity of AG-3 activated carbon modified with polypyrrole was increased, as compared with untreated carbon.