Polymer nanocomposites efficiency

Gill, I., Ballesteros, A. (2000). Degradation of organophosphorus nerve agents by enzyme-polymer nanocomposite efficient biocatalytic materials for personal protection and large-scale detoxification. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 70 400-10. 

Crucially, structure of CNTs and polymers plays a key role on mechanical properties and load-transfer of nanocomposites. Efficient load-transfer is only possible when adequate interfacial bonding strength is available. Interfacial failure may compromise the reinforcement effect and then the full potential of CNTs may not be realized (11). Therefore, it is of great importance to understand the effect of molecular structure, interfacial structure and morphology characteristics on the tensile properties of nanocomposite materials. 

This chapter reports the results of the literature that concerns the photooxidation of polymer nanocomposites. The published studies concern various polymers (PP, epoxy, ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM), PS, and so on) and different nanofillers such as organomontmorillonite or layered double hydroxides (LDH) were investigated. It is worthy to note that a specific attention was given to the interactions with various kinds of stabilizers and their efficiency to protect the polymer. One of the main objectives was to understand the influence of the nanofiller on the oxidation mechanism of the polymer and on the ageing of the nanocomposite material. Depending on the types of nanocomposite that were studied, the influence of several parameters such as morphology, processing conditions, and nature of the nanofiller was examined. 

Keywords Solar cells, organic photovoltaics (OPVs), quantum confinement effect (QCE), conjugated polymers, nanocomposites, blends, quantum dots (QDs), nanocrystals, nanorods, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene, nanoparticles, alternating copolymers, block copolymers, exdton diffusion length, short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage, fill factor, photoconversion efficiency, in-situ polymerization... 

The uniformity and stability of nanotube dispersion in polymer matrices are most important parameters for the performance of composites. A good dispersion leads to efficient load transfer concentration centres in composites and to uniform stress distribution. Many scientists have reviewed the dispersion and functionalisation techniques of CNT for polymer-based nanocomposites, as well as their effects on the properties of CNT/polymer nanocomposites. They demonstrated that the control of these two factors led to uniform dispersion. Overall, the results showed that a proper dispersion enhanced a variety of mechanical properties of nanocomposites. 

Due to the excellent redox properties and high conductivity of the conducting polymer nanocomposites, researchers have been extensively investigating them as electrode materials for batteries and supercapacitors [29,30]. Further, the soft porous conductive polymer matrix can efficiently buffer the severe volume changes of active electrode material during the ion intercalation and extraction process, hence improving cyclability of the electrode material and also acts as a conductive binder, decreasing the contact resistance between particles of active material [31]. In this section... 

Most importantly, layered materials are currently of particular interest as supports for the immobihzation and/or intercalation of various ILs in order to prepare polymer nanocomposites [83, 84] with improved thermal and mechanical properties, nanohybrid materials for electrochemical sensors [85, 86], and efficient catalysts for the synthesis of cyclic carbonate by the cycloaddition of CO2 to allyl glycidyl ether [87] and propylene glycol methyl ether (PGME) from propylene oxide and methanol [88]. A detailed list of applications involving layered materials and ILs can be found in a recent review [16]. 

In general, when compared with the conventional polymer composites, polymer nanocomposites exhibit significant improvements in different properties at relatively much lower concentration of filler. The efficiency of various additives in polymer composites can be increased manyfold when dispersed in the nanoscale. This becomes more noteworthy when the additive is used to address any specific property of the final composite such as mechanical properties, conductivity, fire retardancy, thermal stability, etc. In case of polyolefin/LDH nanocomposites, similar improvements are also observed in many occasions. For example, the thermal properties of PE/LDH showed that even a small amount of LDH improves the thermal stability and onset decomposition temperature in comparison with the unfilled PE [22] its mechanical properties revealed increasing LDH concentration brought about steady increase in modulus and also a sharp decrease in the elongation at break [25]. While in this section, fire-retardant properties and electric properties of polyolefin/LDH nanocomposite were described in detail. 

Styrene-butadiene copolymers are extremely important to the rubber industry. They are particularly important in tire manufacture. Styrene-butadiene polymer is produced by emulsion polymerization and solution polymerization. Most of the volume is by emulsion polymerization. This affords the opportunity to prepare polymer nanocomposites by several avenues. One can blend an aqueous dispersion of the nanoparticles with the styrene-butadiene latex before flocculation to produce the rubber crumb, disperse an organically treated nanoparticle in the styrene-butadiene solution polymer before the solvent is stripped from the polymer, disperse the organically treated nanoparticles into the monomers, or prepare the rubber nanocomposite in the traditional compounding approach. One finds all of these approaches in the literature. One also finds functional modifications of the styrene-butadiene polymer in the literature designed to improve the efficiency of the dispersion and interaction of the nanoparticles with the polymer. 

One of the main subjeets of research activity on polymer nanocomposites and, in particular, of nanocomposites based on isoprene rubber is the polymer/ nanofiller interaction. To underline the importance of this subject, it could be simply said that the reinforcement by nanofillers depends essentially on the efficiency of load transfer to the nanofiller particles. 

The chapter demonstrates that in spite of the incompatibility between hydrophilic natural fibres and hydrophobic polymeric matrices, the properties of natural fibre composites can be enhanced through chemical modifications. The chemical treatments have therefore played a key role in the increased applications of natural fibre composites in the automotive sector. Recent work has also shown that if some of the drawbacks of natural fibres can be adequately addressed, these materials can easily replace glass fibres in many applications. The chapter has also shown that there have been attempts to use natural fibre composites in structural applications, an area which has been hitherto the reserve of synthetic fibres like glass and aramid. The use of polymer nanocomposites in applications of natural fibre-reinforced composites, though at infancy, may provide means to address these efficiencies. Evidence-based life-cycle assessment of natural fibre-reinforced composites is required to build confidence in the green composites applications in automotive sector. 

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