Coating of Carbonized Leather Waste with the Conducting Polymer Polyaniline: Bicontinuous Composites for Dye Adsorption

Abstract

Leather waste carbonized at 800 °C in an inert atmosphere was coated in situ with the conducting polymer polyaniline. The composition of composites varied from neat carbonaceous to polyaniline. Due to the fibrous collagen structure of the original leather after carbonization, the composites had a bicontinuous conducting morphology. The resistivity of composites determined as a function of applied pressure from 0.1 to 10 MPa fell mainly into the range of units to tens of Ω cm. In contrast to neat polyaniline, the composites maintained a good level of conductivity even under alkaline conditions. The application of a composite as an adsorbent of organic-dye pollutants in water treatment was illustrated using methylene blue and methyl orange with an eye to future functional adsorbents controllable by applied electrical potential.