Turning Seashell Waste into Electrically Conductive Particles

Abstract

Biomaterials such as seashells are intriguing due to their remarkable properties, including their hierarchical structure from the nanometer to the micro- or even macroscopic scale. Transfer- ring this nanostructure to generate nanostructured polymers can improve their electrical conduc- tivity. Here, we present the synthesis of polypyrrole using waste seashell powder as a template to prepare a polypyrrole/CaCO₃ composite material. Various synthesis parameters were optimized to produce a composite material with an electrical conductivity of 2.1 × 10⁻⁴ ± 3.2 × 10⁻⁵ S/cm. This work presents the transformation of waste seashells into sustainable, electronically conductive materials and their application as an antistatic agent in polymers. The requirements of an antistatic material were met for a safety shoe sole.