Conductive cellulose nanocomposites for electrochemical sensing of biological bontamination on high-touch surfaces


Responsive biopolymeric nanocomposite systems can be synthesized from natural biopolymers (i.e., polysaccharides and cellulose), which take advantage of their well-defined, three-dimensional network and intrinsic properties. More recently, research on developing the interactions between the biopolymer systems and the functional additives incorporated into these complex matrices has emerged. This work will discuss the strategic design of a conductive biopolymeric coating for the electrochemical sensing of biological contamination on high-touch surfaces via the enhancement of responsive electron transfer triggers. More specifically, cellulose base polymers are modified via covalent and non-covalent functionalization to control the porosity and mechanical properties of the resultant composite. A responsive charge transport composite will be formed using metal-coordination assisted photopolymerization of conductive polymers (i.e., aniline, pyrrole) of the biopolymer scaffold. This work aims to correlate the surface texture (i.e., macro and nanoscale roughness) of high-touch and broad exposure surface materials (i.e., plastics, fibers, metals, etc.) to the rate of adsorption (binding efficacy) and a lifetime of simulated biological carriers (1,2-dihexadecanoyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphocholine (DPPC), mucin type-III, and NaCl). It is expected that a correlation between substrate texturing (roughness and surface energy) and adsorption/desorption rates exists, giving insight into the threshold adhesion forces. The kinetic results will serve as the foundation for developing an electrically-active nanocomposite biopolymer coating with a controlled surface topography to aid in site-specific responsivity in the presence of a foreign biological substance. Results show that upon adhesion of a biological serum onto the surface, there is an impedance change due to the increased resistance from the adherent. This ultimately disrupts the resting potential and decreases the current output at the adsorption site to elicit a redox response. This electrochemical change can be tracked and sent to an external signal source (i.e., an LED or Bluetooth signal), indicating that the surface has been contaminated.

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