Multicomponent bionanocomposites based on clay-nanoarchitectures for electrochemical devices

Abstract

Based on the unique ability of defibrillated sepiolite (SEP) to form stable and homogeneous colloidal dispersions of diverse types of nanoparticles in aqueous media under ultrasonication, multicomponent conductive nanoarchitectured materials integrating halloysite nanotubes (HNT), graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) and chitosan (CHI) have been developed. The resulting nanohybrid suspensions could be easily conformed either as films or as foams, where each individual component plays a critical role in the biocomposite: HNT acts as nanocontainer for bioactive species, GNP provide electrical conductivity (enhanced by doping with MWCNT) and, the CHI polymer matrix introduces mechanical and membrane properties, which are of key significance for the development of electrochemical devices. The resulting characteristics open the way to use these active elements as integrated multicomponent materials for advanced electrochemical devices such as biosensors and enzymatic biofuel cells. This strategy can be regarded as an “a la carte menu”, where the selection of the nanocomponents provided with diverse properties will determine a functional set of predetermined utility thanks to the SEP behavior to maintain stable colloidal dispersions of different nanoparticles and polymers in water.