Future potential properties

Aggarwal S.L., Structure and properties of block polymers and multiphase polymer systems An overview of present status and future potential. Polymer, 17, 938, 1976. 

With the ability to obtain information about the concentrations of various types of metal surface sites in complex metal nanocluster catalysts, HRTEM provides new opportunities to include nanoparticle structure and dynamics into fundamental descriptions of the catalyst properties. This chapter is a survey of recent HRTEM investigations that illustrate the possibilities for characterization of catalysts in the functioning state. This chapter is not intended to be a comprehensive review of the applications of TEM to characterize catalysts in reactive atmospheres such reviews are available elsewhere (e.g., 1,8,9 )). Rather, the aim here is to demonstrate the future potential of the technique used in combination with surface science techniques, density functional theory (DFT), other characterization techniques, and catalyst testing. 

Nanotube nanocomposites with a large number of polymer matrices have been reported in the recent years. The composites were synthesized in order to enhance mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of the conventional polymers so as to expand their spectrum of applications. Different synthesis route have also been developed in order to achieve nanocomposites. The generated morphology in the composites and the resulting composite properties were reported to be affected by the nature of the polymer, nature of the nanotube modification, synthesis process, amount of the inorganic filler etc. The following paragraphs review the nanocomposites structures and properties reported in a few of these reports and also stress upon the future potential of nanotube nanocomposites. 

Before proceeding with potential interactions between preservative chemicals and the wood substrate, it will be necessary to describe briefly the pertinent chemical and physical properties of the commercial wood preservatives as well as some new biocides that may have future potential in wood preservation. 

Since the discovery of microemulsion phases in supercritical fluids in the mid-1980s [1] and their subsequent characterization [2-16], there has been much interest in exploiting the unusual properties of the supercritical fluid phase in applications of these systems. One such application is as a new type of solvent for chemical reactions. In the following sections, I discuss the properties of these systems for reactions, review the progress so far, and analyze the future potential. As a prelude to these discussions, I begin with a brief overview of what is known about the molecular structure of microemulsions in near-critical and supercritical fluids. The details of the primary and secondary molecular structures of various types of microemulsion phases can dramatically affect the reactivity in these systems. 

In addition to their primary function as mechanical property modifier, the high electrical conductivity of carbon fibers provides carbon-based composites with static dissipation and radio frequency shielding characteristics. This opens up a whole range of applications and with carbon nanotubes this can be achieved at enormously low loading levels. One application with future potential is the use of carbon... 

Polymers have been utilised in the field of medicine for several decades, gaining popularity after World War I as an alternative to materials such as steel or alloys. The abundance of polymers, their unique properties and the abihty to tailor these properties with various processing techniques are some of the key reasons for their appeal. The recent rapid rise in the research and development of biodegradable medical polymers in both academia and industry indicates the current and future potential of polymeric materials. 

Conjugated polymers, in the undoped state, exhibit the electronic and optical properties of semiconductors in combination with the mechanical properties of general polymers, making them potentially useful for a wide array of applications particularly in organic optoelectronic devices such as polymer LEDs, photodetectors, photovoltaic cells, etc. Development in the performance of such devices has advanced rapidly, and prototype devices now meet realistic specifications for practical applications. In spite of such successful achievements in the scope of device application, however, there is still controversy over the nature of the electronic structure and the appropriate description of the underlying physics of elementary excitations. Since these issues are both scientifically interesting and critically important to the assessment of the future potential of devices based on conjugated polymers, more detailed... 

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