Kinetics study of polypyrrole hydro-sponges swelling in different aqueous media using FTIR-ATR technique

Abstract

Studies have shown that polypyrrole hydro-sponges have high ability to swell in the aqueous medium. These studies were made using the conventional method found in the literature and show that the swelling of these materials is sensitive to the ionic strength. An interesting method that can be applied to study the kinetic of swelling of the polypyrrole hydro-sponges is FTIR-ATR. This method is already well developed in kinetics analysis in water up-take in ion-selective polymeric membrane. The most interesting in FTIR_ATR technique is that it allows qualifying and quantifying different types of water (monomeric, dimeric, clustered and bulk water) absorbed by the membrane. Applying this methodology in water up-take by polypyrrole hydro-sponges will bring a rich and unprecedented study about the kinetic of swelling of these kinds of materials at molecular level. The objective this project is to study the kinetic of swelling of the polypyrrole hydro-sponge at molecular level in different electrolytic aqueous solutions using the FTIR_ATR and compare with conventional method. (AU)