Electrochemical Study of Cassava Starch Conductive Biopolymers Synthesized at Different pH

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of pH on the electrochemical properties of chemically-synthesized conductive polymers from alkoxylation of cassava starch at different pH (3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12) and with addition of different plasticizers (glycerol, glutaraldehyde, polyethylene glycol) and lithium perchlorate. The better integrity in their electrochemical structure was observed at pH 4, 5 and 8, due to the overlapping of the voltammograms of each one of the assays, indicating the stability of each material. Finally, it was observed that properties of the materials were unstable at extreme pH conditions (very low or very high pH), corroborating the progressive rearrangement of the structure thereof.