Biodegradable polymer nanocomposite polymers

B. Sitharaman, X.F. Shi, X.F. Walboomers, H.B. Liao, V. Cuijpers, L.J. Wilson, A.G. Mikos, J.A. Jansen, In vivo biocompatibility of ultra-short single-walled carbon nanotube/biodegradable polymer nanocomposites for, bone tissue engineering, Bone, vol. 43, pp. 362-3Z0, 2008. 

Biodegradable polymer nanocomposites have emerged as a new class of materials and attracted considerable interest and investment in research and development worldwide [76-79]. This is largely due to their new and often much improved mechanical, thermal, electrical and optical properties as compared to their macro- and micro- coimterparts. In general, polymer nanocomposites are made by dispersing inorganic or organic nanoparticles into either a thermoplastic or thermoset polymer [80-85]. Nanoparticles can be three-dimensional spherical and polyhedral nanoparticles (e.g.. 

Marras SI, Kladi KP, Tsivintzelis I, Zuburtikudis I, Panayiotou C (2008) Biodegradable polymer nanocomposites the role of nanoclays on the thermomechanical characteristics and the electrospun fibrous structure. Acta Biomaterialia 4 756-765... 

Lu X-L et al (2013) Preparation and shape memory properties of Ti02/PLCL biodegradable polymer nanocomposites. Trans Nonferr Metal Soc China 23(1) 120-127... 

Shi XF, Sitharaman B, Pham QP, Spicer PP, Hudson JL, Wilson U, et al. In vitro cytotoxicity of single-walled carbon nanotube/biodegradable polymer nanocomposites. J Biomed Mater Res A 2008 86(3) 813—23. 

Adapted from Sitharaman B, Van Der Zande M, Ananta IS, Shi X, Veitien A, Waiboomers XF, et al. Magnetic resonance imaging studies on gadonanotube-reinforced biodegradable polymer nanocomposites. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A 2010 93 1454—62, with permission. Cop5right WUey, 2009. 

In vivo biocompatibility of ultra-short single-walled carbon nanotube/biodegradable polymer nanocomposites for bone tissue engineering. Bone 2008 43 362-70, with permission. Copyright Elsevier, 2008. 

The tensile modulus of a polymeric material has been shown to be remarkably improved when nanocomposites are formed with layered silicates. In the case of biodegradable polymer nanocomposites, most studies report the tensile properties as a function of clay content. In most conventionally filled polymer systems, the modulus increases linearly with the filler volume fraction, whereas for these nanoparticles much lower filler concentrations increase the modulus sharply and to a much larger extent. The dramatic enhancement of the modulus... 

Biodegradable thermoplastic nanocomposite polymers obtained by this method are characterized by being transparent and by having improved tensile strengths and good elongation properties. 

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