Conductivity Performance of Biopolymer Membrane based on Kappa-Carrageenan

Smart energy systems are well-known among researchers who wish to introduce new technology. Biopolymer is an environmentally friendly material. Kappa-Carrageenan is one type of biopolymer with high proton conductivity and durability which has been studied for almost 10 years. The membrane based on kappa-carrageenan was prepared using solution cast technique incoorperated with ammonium thiocyanate (NH₄SCN). The solution was poured into glass petri dishes and left to dry at room temperature before further dying in an oven at 60°C to obtain thin films. The highest conductivity was obtained for 40 wt. % NH₄SCN added kappa-carrageenan. The conductivity dropped when the amount of kappa-carrageenan is equal to the amount of NH₄SCN. The maximum conductivity of kappa-carrageenan incorporated with NH₄SCN obtained is 1.64E-03 S cm^-1. FTIR studies show peak at 1638 cm^-1 in pure kappa-carrageenan which slowly disappeared at 60 wt. % kappa-carrageenan. It is however characterized by a peak attributed to NH₄SCN at 1600 cm^-1 which appeared for 50 wt. % of kappa-carrageenan and below.