Nanocomposites fibrous clay-based

Recent Advances on Fibrous Clay-Based Nanocomposites... 

In the chapter Dispersion of Inorganic Nanoparticles in Polymer Matrices Challenges and Solutions, the synthesis, properties, and applications of nanoparticles their surface modification and preparation of polymer-inorganic nanocomposites are reviewed in detail. The chapter Recent Advances on Fibrous Clay-Based Nanocomposites reviews recent results on nanocomposite materials derived from the fibrous clay silicates sepiolite and palygorskite and combined with diverse types of polymers, from typical thermoplastics to biopolymers such as polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. The chapter Nanohybrid Materials by Electrospinning highlights recent progress and current issues in the production of... 

Fibrous Clay Nanocomposites Based on Hydrogel Polymers. 49... 

Bionanocomposites are an ecological alternative to conventional nanocomposites based on petroleum-derived polymers, as they are based on biodegradable polymers obtained from renewable resources. Biomass is the source of agropolymers like starch and cellulose and also of monomers used to chemically synthesize polymers like polylactic acid (PLA). Other kinds of biopolymers, e.g., xanthan gum and poly (hydroxyalkanoates), are produced by microorganisms. Even though most of the bionanocomposites reported in the hterature are based on layered sihcates, the number of examples illustrating the use of fibrous clays in the preparation of new bionanocomposites is growing rapidly. 

Nanocomposites based on fibrous clays provided with electrical conductivity could be designed and prepared following approaches based on the assembly of conducting polymers with fibrous clays as well as on the combination of sepiolite and palygorskite with conducting carbonaceous materials. It can be expected that future research activities in this domain will consider the combination of both approaches with the aim of optimizing the mechanical behaviour and other properties with suitable ionic and/or electronic conductivity. 

In this contribution, we intend to introduce recent work dedicated to polymer-clay nanocomposites based on sepiolite and palygorskite fibrous silicates. We will consider as a priority the role of the interface between the mineral surface and the polymer matrix. In fact, this type of clay is markedly hydrophilic because their surface is covered by hydroxyl groups, mainly silanol groups (=Si-OH) [17, 22], and therefore they are compatible with many polar polymers. However, chemical modification of the silicate surface could be necessary for adjusting their... 

Clay minerals, the micas, chlorite, serpentine, talc, between them can also find within the group of minerals phyllosilicates or layered silicates. They all have different morphology, structure, and texture (Bergaya et al. 2009). The some representative layer silicates used mainly in nanocomposites-based starch are listed in Table 2. It is important to note that the some phyllosilicates do not display a normal layered strucmre, for example, the sepiolite shows a fibrous structure meanwhile halloysite has spheroidal aggregates morphology (Duquesque et al. 2007 Bergaya et al. 2009). 

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