Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube & Polypyrrole Nanocomposite and its Interactions with AMB-1 Bacteria
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Authors
Dengelegi, Jake
Patra, Prabir
Macwan, Isaac
Issue Date
2018-03-23
Type
Other
Language
en_US
Keywords
Bacteria , Carbon nanotube , Polypyrrole nanocomposite
Alternative Title
Abstract
Being able to easily manufacture pristine carbon nanotube (CNT) is a difficult problem that we face today. There are many different chirality (twists) that the carbon nanotubes orient themselves in making them either more metallic or semi-conducting in nature. Being able to separate these two types is very important to electronic industries because semi-conducting carbon nanotubes are better suited for devices such as transistors. Magnetospirillum magneticum (AMB-1) is a bacteria that can be used through magnetotaxis for controlled assembly of CNT based devices. It has been shown that there are favorable interactions between the MSP-1 surface protein and flagellin protein from AMB-1 with only semi-conducting carbon nanotubes1 through glycine and its flanking residues. In order to better study this interaction, this work is on the fabrication of a free standing nanocomposite carbon nanotube and polypyrrole (Ppy) film using cyclic voltammetry. This technique electro-polymerizes the pyrrole monomer into Ppy through a series of oxidation and reduction reactions along with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) to be deposited on an electrode. It has been shown before that graphene, pyrrole, and carbon nanotubes can form a film together using cyclic voltammetry2. In general, carbon nanotubes have a difficult time being suspended in water because they are non-polar (hydrophobic), which challenges the process of making the films containing only CNTs. The specific aim of this project is to look at the interactions between AMB-1 and MWNT/Ppy film using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). In order to have large number of interactions between AMB-1 and CNT only, we are working to find the least amount of pyrrole needed to make the film containing the most amount of CNTs.
Description
Faculty Research Day 2018: Graduate Student Poster 3rd Place