Polymer/silver-gold nanocomposites

As mentioned earlier in situ approach has also been used for the synthesis of conducting polymer-metal hybrid nanocomposites. Xu et al. [35] have reported the decoration of PPy nanotubes with gold nanoparticles by an in situ reduction process. They prepared PPy nanotubes by MO-FeCl3 self-degrade template method and then reduced HAuCLi within PPy nanotubes in the presence of different surfactants such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and Tween-80. Nanowires of silver PAni nanocomposites have been reported via in situ polymerization method [36]. In this method aniline is oxidized by ammonium persulfate (APS) in the presence of dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSA) and silver nitrate (AgN03). In another approach gold-PAni core-shell... 

Around 1900, widely forgotten reports indicated the preparation of polymer nanocomposites with uniaxially oriented inorganic particles, and their remarkable optical properties (14,15). Dichroic plants and animal fibrils (eg, linen, cotton, spruce, or chitin, amongst others) were prepared by impregnation with solutions of silver nitrate, silver acetate, or gold chloride, followed by reduction of the corresponding metal ions under the action of light (16). 

Recently, polymer nanocomposites have attracted an increased attention, where nanotechnology is applied to produce materials with remarkable improvements in properties and performance. The most popular approach to produce this new family of composite materials is to introduce nanoscale particles into a polymer matrix to produce polymer/nano-particle composites. Examples of such nanoparticles include layered silicates, layered titanates, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), gold, silver, and maghemite nanoparticles, and fluorine mica [79, 80]. 

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