Polymer nanocomposites fabrication

Chen H, Muthuraman H, Stokes P, Zou J, Liu X, Wang J, et al. Dispersion of carbon nanotubes and polymer nanocomposite fabrication using trifluoroacetic acid as aco-solvenL Nanotechnology 2007 18 1-9. 

CNTs can enhance the thermal properties of CNT-polymer nanocomposites. The reinforcing function is closely associated with the amount and alignment of CNTs in the composites. Well-dispersed and long-term stable carbon nanotubes/ polymer composites own higher modulus and better thermal property as well as better electronic conductivity (Valter et al., 2002 Biercuk et al., 2002). Both SWNT and MWNT can improve the thermal stability and thermal conductivity of polymer, the polymer-CNT composites can be used for fabricating resistant-heat materials. 

In the previous several years, various nanoparticles have been assembled into pairs to fabricate polymer nanocomposites, such as clay/silica (45), clay/carbon black (43), CNTs/clay (41,42), and CNTs/Titanium (38). Polymer/CNTs/clay ternary composite is one of most important multiphase systems with interesting synergistic effect, where sodium based montmorillonite (MMT) are the most commonly used layered clay. In this chapter, we will select some typical examples to demonstrate the importance and synergies of using CNTs and clay together in the preparation of polymer nanocomposites. 

Fabrication methods have overwhelmingly focused on improving nanotube dispersion because better nanotube dispersion in polyurethane matrix has been found to improve the properties of the nanocomposites. The dispersion extent of CNTs in the polyurethane matrix plays an important role in the properties of the polymer nanocomposites. Similar to the case of nanotube/solvent suspensions, pristine nanotubes have not yet been shown to be soluble in polymers, illustrating the extreme difficulty of overcoming the inherent thermodynamic drive of nanotubes to bundle. Therefore, CNTs need to be surface modified before the composite fabrication process to improve the load transfer from the polyurethane matrix to the nanotubes. Usually, the polyurethane/CNT nanocomposites can be fabricated by using four techniques melt-mixing (15), solution casting (16-18), in-situ polymerization (19-21), and sol gel process (22). 

The LBL, in-situ self-assembled LBL films of PPy, PANI, polyhexylthiophene, and poly(ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDT) and hybrid cross-linked nanocomposite thin film for NOx gas sensing were fabricated [68,70,101-106] for NO2 sensing application. Layered films of conducting polymer nanocomposite films were fabricated similar to the one explained in Sections 2.2.1 and 2.2.2. 

Rozenberg, B. A. and R. Tenne. 2008. Polymer-assisted fabrication of nanoparticles and nanocomposites. Progress in Polymer Science 33 40-112. 

Investigating the fabrication and composition of semiconductor nanoparticles in polymer matrices has attracted the interest of many scientists. Inorganic/organic polymer nanocomposites, in particular, have attracted great interest due to their synergistic and hybrid properties derived from... 

The synthesis approaches for fabrication of hollow spheres of different semiconductor materials through irradiation route in large scale and under mild conditions could be of interest for both applications and fundamental studies. Indeed, it has been found that the combination of ionizing radiation and microemulsion can afford more unique conditions to control the composition, morphology, and size of NPs. Compared with other routes of building hollow spheres, radiation chemical approach is a one-step facile and effective method and has potential to produce various inorganic/polymer nanocomposite hollow spheres with potential applications in the fields of materials science and biotechnology. 

B. A. Rozenberg, R. Tenne, Polymer-Assisted Fabrication of Nanoparticles and Nanocomposites. Prog. Polym. Sci. 2008,33,40-112. 

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