Author(s)

A. Heredia^1*, J. J. Gervacio-Arciniega², V. Duarte-Alaniz³, O. Amelines-Sarria^4,5, A. Rodríguez-Galván¹, J. M. Siqueiros²

¹Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Departamento de Química de Radiaciones y Radioquímica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico.
²Facultad de Ciencias Físico-Matemáticas, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, México.
³Instituto de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México.
⁴Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico en Energías Renovables, Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, México.
⁵Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana Seccional Bucaramanga, Floridablanca, Colombia.

Alginate biopolymer from Tropicalgin C302245 was studied by means of piezoresponse force microscopy imaging, scanning electron microscopy, powder X-rays, infrared spectroscopy and computer simulations. Local piezoresponse force microscopy images show possible ferroelectric domains detected in the out of plane mode and these results are confirmed by the second harmonic generation analysis. Alginate powder is composed by diatom frustules containing a cristobalite-like compound, amorphous silica and chitin. The experimental results are explained by MM+ and PM3 computer simulations that establish that the self-assembly of the alginate molecules enhance the polarization increasing the molecular collective dipole moment. Alginate molecular properties might open interesting possibilities for organic technological applications.

Alginate, Piezoresponse Force Microscopy, Ferroelectricity, Macromolecular Self-Assembly

Heredia, A. , Gervacio-Arciniega, J. , Duarte-Alaniz, V. , Amelines-Sarria, O. , Rodríguez-Galván, A. and Siqueiros, J. (2017) Description of New Bioelectromechanical Properties in Alginate: An Insight with a Computer Simulation. Advances in Materials Physics and Chemistry, 7, 334-346. doi: 10.4236/ampc.2017.78026.