In this study, a novel polycaprolactone/chitosan/polypyrrole (PCL/chitosan/PPy) conductive composite film is fabricated. For this purpose, initially, a polymer blend of PCL/chitosan (7:3) was selected and then 1, 2.5, 5 and 7.5 wt% of PPy was added to each solution. A range of techniques were applied to study the chemical, physical, mechanical and antibacterial properties of the resultant films. According to SEM images, with the addition of PPy to the PCL/chitosan blend, the size of the surface pits decreased and at higher concentration of PPy porous structure is detected. There was significant increase in the electrical conductivity of the films such that the electrical conductivity of PCL/chitosan was 0.0164 ± 0.008 mS/m but increased to 0.55 ± 0.03 mS/m with the addition of 7.5% PPy. Hydrophilicty was found to improve with the addition of PPy as water contact angle changed from 107±2.1° for PCL/chitosan to 101±3.5° at 7.5% PPy. The mechanical properties of the film was shown to improve, for example, the tensile strength increased from was 7.57 MPa for PCL/chitosan sample to 18.06, 16.02, 15.33 and 13.87 MPa for 1, 2.5, 5 and 7.5 wt% PPy, respectively. The films containing PPy had improved antibacterial properties against E. coli and S. aureus. The incorporation of PPy within the PCL/chitosan matrix was found to positively influence the overall properties of films, making them suitable for biomedical applications.
