Analysis Characterization and Some Properties of Polyacrylamide Copper Complexes

The complexation of polyacrylamide (PAam) with Cu⁺² metal ions was investigated. The metal complexes were characterized by FTIR, UV-Vis and DSC analysis. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to study the characteristic shifts in the maximum absorbance bands of N-H amide C=O and N-H₂ absorption bands. UV-Vis spectroscopy was also used to follow the complex formation of PAam-Cu⁺². UV-Vis spectroscopy shows the appearance of a new band that was absent both in the polymer and its salt solutions.

Thermal analysis of PAam-Cu⁺² complexes was studied using DSC. The shifts in Tg values could be attributed to the improvement in the rigidity of PAam in the presence of Cu⁺² associated with the polymer chain. Pure polyacrylamide polymer is electrically insular. The electrical conductivity improved by several orders of magnitude after the complexation process.

AFM was used to image the surface features of PAam and PAam-Cu⁺²complex films. The association of polyacrylamide with Cu⁺² metal ions at 2.5% (w/w) concentration, showed the formation of large grains with roughness 0.5 µm. Increasing the concentration of PAam-Cu⁺² complex up to 25% (w/w), showed different and surprising results: instead of film with large grains, rods 1 µm in diameter were formed.