Recent advances in starch–clay nanocomposites

Biological nanocomposites are a valuable addition to the existing nanocomposite materials and eventually can substitute petroleum-based composite materials in numerous applications due to their inherent advantages such as biodegradability, eco-friendliness, low cost, and easy availability to name a few. Recently, polymer–clay nanocomposites have achieved much more attention due to their enhanced properties such as size dispersion and significant enhancement in physicochemical and mechanical properties in comparison to the pure polymer systems. Among various biopolymers, starch is one of the most abundant natural polymers on the earth and is highly valuable due to its chemical and physical properties. Starch polymer has highly increased potential as an alternative to petroleum-based materials. However, starch cannot be used alone and starch–clay nanocomposite has emerged as a new potential green sustainable material. This article focuses on recent progress in starch-based nanocomposites with particular emphasis on starch–clay nanocomposite preparation, properties, and applications.     

Hierarchical Structures Based on Functionalized Magnetic Cores and Layered Double‐Hydroxide Shells: Concept,Controlled Synthesis,and Applications

The combination of magnetic particles and layered double hydroxide (LDHs) materials leads to the formation of hierarchical composites that can take full advantages of each component; this is an effective approach for achieving multifunctional materials with intriguing properties. This Concept article summarizes several important strategies for the fabrication of magnetic‐core/LDH‐shell hierarchical nanocomposites, including direct coprecipitation, layer‐by‐layer assembly, and in situ growth methods. The obtained nanocomposites exhibit excellent performance as multifunctional materials for promising applications in targeted drug delivery, efficient separation, and catalysis. The fabrication and application of magnetic‐core/LDH‐shell nanocomposite materials represent a new direction in the development of LDH‐based multifunctional materials, which will contribute to the progress of chemistry and material science.     

Structure–property relationships of polymer blend/clay nanocomposites: Compatibilized and noncompatibilized polystyrene/propylene/clay

Polymer blends represent an important class of materials in engineering applications. The incorporation of clay nanofiller may provide new opportunities for this type of materials to enhance their applications. This article reports on the effects of clay on the structure and properties of compatibilized and noncompatibilized polymer blends and presents a detailed process for quantitative analysis of the elastic moduli of polymer blend/clay nanocomposites, based on immiscible polystyrene/polypropylene (PS/PP) blends with or without maleated PP as the compatibilizer. The results show that in the noncompatibilized PS/PP/clay nanocomposite clay locates solely in the PS phase, whereas in the compatibilized nanocomposite clay disperses in both phases. The addition of clay to both polymer blends reduces the domain size significantly, modifies the crystallinity and improves the stiffness. The Mori–Tanaka and Christensen's models offer a reasonably good prediction of the elastic moduli of both types of nanocomposites. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2012     

Thermal and mechanical properties of PE/organoclay nanocomposites

Polyethylene/montmorillonite clay nanocomposites were obtained via direct melt intercalation. The clay was organically modified with four different types of quaternary ammonium salts. The objective of this work is to study the use of montmorillonite clay in the production of nanocomposites by means on rheological, mechanical and crystallization properties of nanocomposites and to compare to the properties of the matrix and PE/unmodified clay nanocomposites. In general, the tensile test showed that the yield strength and modulus of the nanocomposites are close to the pure PE. Apparently, the mixture with Dodigen salt seems to be more stable than the pure PE and PE/unmodified clay.     

Interface phenomena in (super)hard nitride nanocomposites: from coatings to bulk materials

Mechanical properties of nanocomposites usually surpass the mechanical properties of their micro-structured and single-crystalline counterparts. This is mainly due to an extremely high density of internal interfaces in nanocomposites like grain, crystallite and phase boundaries. When compared to diamond, carbides and borides, nitrides are of interest because of their high temperature oxidation resistance and compatibility with iron containing alloys. This tutorial review classifies the contributions of various internal interfaces to the hardness of the nanocomposites, and appreciates the outstanding role of partially coherent phase boundaries in the hardness enhancement. With selected examples of transition metal nitrides containing aluminium and silicon as well as of boron nitrides, it is explained how the nanocomposites with partially coherent phase boundaries and thus with enhanced hardness can be synthesised. As the possible ways of the formation of coherent phase boundaries, the local epitaxial growth of phases with limited mutual solubility, the production of supersaturated solid solutions followed by the segregation of elements during the spinodal decomposition and the incomplete phase transformation are discussed. The most important techniques, used for synthesis of nitride nanocomposites, like CVD, PVD, precursor-based methods, mechanical alloying and high-pressure-high-temperature synthesis are briefly reviewed. Besides, a short overview on hardness definitions and hardness measurements is included.     

聚丙烯/层状双氢氧化物纳米复合材料研究进展

聚丙烯/层状双氢氧化物纳米复合材料是近年来开发的新型聚合物基复合材料,具有与纯聚合物基体不同的结晶行为,而且表现出优异的机械力学性能、耐热性能、阻燃性能和耐紫外线功能等,有着广泛的应用前景。本文首先对层状双氢氧化物的结构、组成与制备方法进行简要介绍,然后重点阐述了聚丙烯/层状双氢氧化物纳米复合材料的制备、分散结构表征、结晶行为以及力学和热学等性能方面的研究进展,最后对其应用前景进行展望。     

Silicon-containing polymer-derived ceramic nanocomposites (PDC-NCs): preparative approaches and properties

Composites consist by definition of at least two materials (Gibbsian phases) with rather different properties. They exhibit a heterogeneous microstructure and possess improved properties with respect to their components. Furthermore, the design of their microstructure allows for tailoring their overall properties. In the last decades, intense work was performed on the synthesis of nanocomposites, which have the feature that at least one of their components is nanoscaled. However, the microstructure-property relationship of nanocomposite materials is still a challenging topic. This tutorial review paper deals with a special class of nanocomposites, i.e. polymer-derived ceramic nanocomposites (PDC-NCs), which have been shown to be promising materials for various structural and functional applications. Within this context, different preparative approaches for PDC-NCs as well as some of their properties will be presented and discussed. Furthermore, recent results concerning the relationship between the nano/microstructure of PDC-NCs and their properties will be highlighted.     

尼龙纳米复合材料研究进展

综述了尼龙纳米复合材料的制备方法、性能特点以及近几年来国内外对尼龙纳米复合材料产品开发进展情况。重点从纳米粒子对复合材料结晶行为的影响以及纳米粒子与尼龙界面相互作用两方面研究纳米粒子增强增韧尼龙的机理。并展望了尼龙纳米复合材料的应用前景。     

CuO/ZnO Nanocomposite Gas Sensors Developed by a Plasma‐Assisted Route

CuO/ZnO nanocomposites were synthesized on Al₂O₃ substrates by a hybrid plasma‐assisted approach, combining the initial growth of ZnO columnar arrays by plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE‐CVD) and subsequent radio frequency (RF) sputtering of copper, followed by final annealing in air. Chemical, morphological, and structural analyses revealed the formation of high‐purity nanosystems, characterized by a controllable dispersion of CuO particles into ZnO matrices. The high surface‐to‐volume ratio of the obtained materials, along with intimate CuO/ZnO intermixing, resulted in the efficient detection of various oxidizing and reducing gases (such as O₃, CH₃CH₂OH, and H₂). The obtained data are critically discussed and interrelated with the chemical and physical properties of the nanocomposites.     

Structure and properties of poly(vinyl chloride)/graphene nanocomposites

The goal of the paper was to investigate the influence of graphene (GN) on properties and structure of suspensive poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). PVC/GN nanocomposites were obtained by the solvent evaporation method, and their structures were evaluated using optical microscopy, SEM, FT-IR, XRD and Raman spectroscopy methods. Thermal properties of the obtained materials were studied by TGA. Electrical properties and swelling behaviour were also determined.The microscopic observations confirm a uniform distribution of graphene in the PVC matrix. The investigations carried out indicated an effect of graphene on a decrease in resistivity to a value which enabled to include the PVC/GN nanocomposites into anti-static materials group. On the basis of swelling studies, it has been found that the PVC/GN nanocomposites have a higher chemical resistance against acetone while compared to pure poly(vinyl chloride). The properties of the obtained materials depend significantly on content and dispersion level of graphene in the PVC matrix. An impact of GN on the acceleration of the PVC degradation process was found.     

银/聚合物纳米复合材料

银/聚合物纳米复合材料是一种典型的聚合物基复合材料, 其结构和性能依赖于合成方法,因此开发材料的优异性能必须以深入研究纳米材料的先进合成技术为前提。本文综述了纳米银粒子及其与聚合物形成的纳米复合材料的最新合成进展, 重点介绍了基于液相化学还原方法合成纳米银粒子的新方法, 如溶胶-凝胶法、沉淀法、微乳液法和离子液体法, 以及纳米银粒子的分散技术和原位法合成银/聚合物纳米复合材料的新技术, 并介绍了纳米银复合材料的电绝缘性、表面增强拉曼散射性能、抗菌性及其在生物医学等领域中的应用。     

Phase Engineering of Two‐Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) possess a large number of two‐dimensional (2D) materials with novel physical and chemical properties and hold great potential applications in electronic devices, optical devices as well as catalysts. TMDs usually have poly‐phases, such as 2H, 3R and 1T. Chemical and physical properties, including electrical conductivity, superconductivity, magnetism and catalytic activity, are different for different phases of TMDs. Therefore, great efforts have been made to obtain a specific pure phase of 2D TMD materials. Here, we review the recent phase engineering research for 2D TMDs, including ion insertion, alloying, temperature, defects, strain and electric field.     

Effect of surface modification of montmorillonite on the properties of aromatic polyamide/clay nanocomposites

The surface modification of montmorillonite clay was carried out through ion‐ exchange reaction using p‐phenylenediamine as a modifier. This modified clay was employed to prepare aromatic polyamide/organoclay nanocomposite materials. The dispersion behavior of clay was examined in the polyamide matrix. Polyamide chains were synthesized from 4‐aminophenyl sulfone and isophthaloyl chloride (IPC) in dimethylacetamide. These amide chains were suitably end‐capped with carbonyl chloride end groups to interact chemically with modified montmorillonite clay. The resulting nanocomposite films containing 2–20 wt% of organoclay were characterized by TEM, X‐ray diffraction (XRD), thin‐film tensile testing; thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) and water absorption measurements. Mechanical testing revealed that modulus and strength improved up to 6 wt% organoclay loading while elongation and toughness of nanocomposites decreased with the addition of clay content in the matrix. Thermal decomposition temperatures of the nanocomposites were in the range 225–450 °C. These nanocomposites expressed increase in the glass‐transition temperature values relative to pure polyamide describing interfacial interactions among the phases. The percent water uptake of these composites reduced upon the addition of modified layered silicate depicting improved barrier properties. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

iPP Based Nanocomposites Filled with Calcium Carbonate Nanoparticles: Structure/Properties Relationships

Isotactic polypropylene (iPP) based nanocomposites filled with calcium carbonate nanoparticles (CaCO₃) were prepared by melt mixing and structure-properties relationships of the nanomaterials were studied. Elongated CaCO₃ nanopowders coated with two different coating agents, polypropylene-maleic anhydride graft copolymer (iPP-g-MA) and fatty acids (FA), were tested as nanoreinforced phases. The influence of surface treatment of the nanoparticles on the polymer/nanofillers interfacial adhesion and on the final materials properties was investigated. Morphological analysis showed that the selected coating agents induce different iPP/nanofiller adhesion degrees. Young's modulus increases as a function of the nanoparticles content and the coating agent nature. Finally, all the prepared nanocomposites showed a significant improvement of iPP barrier properties either to oxygen or to carbon dioxide.     

Poly(vinyl alcohol)/GO-MMT nanocomposites: Preparation,structure and properties

A facile, efficient and environment friendly method is established to prepare poly(vinyl alcohol)(PVA) based graphene oxide-montmorillonite(GO-MMT) nanocomposites in aqueous media. GO-MMT nanohybrid is obtained by the combination of GO and MMT in water without any reducing or stabilizing agents. The formation of GO-MMT nanohybrid is due to the hydrogen bonding and crosslinking effects. The sodium ions within MMT sheets act as crosslinkers between GO sheets and MMT platelets. The resultant nanocomposites are characterized by means of X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM), differential scanning calorimetry(DSC), thermogravimetric analysis(TGA) and mechanical testing. Compared to that of pure PVA, PVA nanocomposites show enhanced thermal stabilities and mechanical properties, which results from strong interfacial adhesion of the nanoadditives in PVA matrix. The further increase in the tensile strength and modulus results from strong interaction between PVA chains and layered GO-MMT as well as good mechanical properties of GO-MMT hybrid, compared to PVA/GO and PVA/MMT nanocompsoites.     

Ultrasound-assisted synthesis of mesoporous zirconia-hydroxyapatite nanocomposites and their dual surface affinity for Cr3+/Cr2O7(2-) ions

Zirconia-hydroxyapatite nanocomposites were prepared by sol-gel deposition of zirconium oxide from a zirconium alkoxide in the presence of apatite colloidal suspension under ultrasonication. The material porosity evolves from mainly microporous zirconia to mesoporous hydroxyapatite, with decreasing surface area and increasing pore volume. XRD studies indicate that the apatite phase is well-preserved within the composite materials. The homogeneous dispersion of apatite colloids within the zirconia network was supported by TEM observations and nitrogen sorption measurements. (31)P solid-state NMR studies suggest that partial dissolution of apatite may have occurred during the preparation, leading to the adsorption of phosphate species on zirconia particles. This is confirmed by XRD studies of nanocomposites after thermal treatment that demonstrate the preferred formation of tetragonal over monoclinic ZrO(2) in the presence of hydroxyapatite. In order to investigate the surface properties of these novel materials, the adsorption of Pb(2+), Cr(3+), and Cr(2)O(7)(2-) was evaluated. Metal cations were preferentially adsorbed on apatite-rich composites, whereas Cr(2)O(7)(2-) shows a good affinity for the zirconia-rich phases. Zirconia-apatite materials showed the most promising performance in terms of recyclability. These nanocomposites that combine microporosity, mesoporosity and dual sorption properties for these species appear as interesting materials for metal ion remediation and may also find applications as biomaterials.     

Sol–gel synthesis of sodium and lithium based materials

Sodium and lithium cobaltates are important materials for thermoelectric and battery applications due to their large thermoelectric power and ability to (de-) intercalate the alkali metal. For these applications, phase pure materials with controlled microstructure are required. We report on the sol?Cgel synthesis of sodium- and lithium-based materials by using acetate precursors. The produced Na_2/3CoO₂, Li(Ni_1/3Mn_1/3Co_1/3)O₂, and Li(Ni_1/2Co_1/2)O₂ powders are phase pure with grain sizes below 1???m. X-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive spectral analyses show that the cation stoichiometry is preserved in the lithium-based compounds. Despite the low temperatures, the sodium content is reduced by 1/3 as compared to the initial value. Chemical phases of the investigated powders are formed in the sol?Cgel route at temperatures typically 100?C200?K lower than those used in the conventional solid-state synthesis of these materials. The suggested sol?Cgel synthesis is a low temperature process suited for production of phase pure and homogeneous materials with volatile cations.     

高效氧催化反应中的金属有机骨架材料（英文）

氧电催化反应包括氧气还原反应(ORR)和氧气析出反应(OER).作为核心电极反应,这两个反应对诸多能源存储与转换技术(比如燃料电池、金属空气电池以及全水分解制氢等)的能量效率起决定性作用.然而,ORR和OER涉及多个反应步骤、多个电子转移过程以及多相界面传质过程.这些复杂的过程较大程度上限制了ORR和OER的反应速率.从理论和实践两个方面来看,ORR和OER都需要高效电催化剂的参与来促进其反应速率,从而能够最终提高上述能源存储与转换技术的能量转换或利用效率.目前,以Pt,Pd,Ir,Ru为代表的贵金属基电催化剂具有十分突出的电催化性能.但是,过高的成本和过低的储量始终制约着贵金属基电催化剂在催化ORR和OER反应方面,乃至在能源存储与转换技术领域的规模化应用.因而,开发高效非贵金属基氧电催化剂成为近年来能源存储与转换领域的研究重点之一.在众多已经报道的非贵金属基氧电催化剂中,金属有机骨架材料(MOFs)备受瞩目.MOFs是一类由有机配体和金属节点通过配位键自组装而成的晶态多孔材料.它们具备超高比表面积、超高孔隙率以及规则性纳米孔道.相比较其他传统的多孔材料(比如活性炭、分子筛、介孔炭、介孔氧化硅等),MOFs最主要的优势在于它们的结构和功能可以依据需求通过选择合适的有机配体和金属节点进行便利地设计,或通过后处理进行必要的改性和调节.基于独特的多孔特性以及结构与功能的可设计、可调节性,MOFs在气体分离与存储、异相催化、化学传感、药物输送、环境保护以及能源存储与转化等领域都具有潜在的应用价值.因而,近年来,MOFs备受基础研究领域和工业界的青睐.针对MOFs开展的基础研究和应用开发逐渐成为诸多领域的研究焦点.也正由于MOFs具有的上述优异特性,尤其是结构与功能的可设计、可调节性,使得设计制备基于单纯MOFs以及MOFs衍生材料成为开发高效非贵金属基氧电催化剂的新途径.本综述首先论述了基于单纯MOFs的氧电催化剂(包括纯MOFs、活性物种修饰的MOFs以及与导电材料构成的复合MOFs)的合成以及它们在ORR或OER催化反应中应用的研究进展.在第二部分论述中,本综述主要针对MOFs衍生的各类氧电催化剂(包括无机微米-纳米结构/多孔碳复合材料、纯多孔碳材料、纯无机微米-纳米结构材料以及单原子型电催化材料)的研究进展进行了简要介绍和讨论.最后,本综述对MOFs基氧电催化剂目前存在的挑战进行了简要分析;同时,也对这类氧电催化剂的通用设计准则以及未来发展方向进行了展望.尽管存在诸多挑战,MOFs始终被认为是极好的"平台"材料.充分利用它们将有利于开发高效且实用的非贵金属基氧电催化剂.     

Synthesis, structural and hydrogenation properties of Mg-rich MgH2-TiH2 nanocomposites prepared by reactive ball milling under hydrogen gas

MgH(2)-TiH(2) nanocomposites have been obtained by reactive ball milling of elemental powders under 8 MPa of hydrogen pressure. The composites consist of a mixture of β-rutile MgH(2), γ-orthorhombic high pressure MgH(2) and ε-tetragonal TiH(2) phases with nanosized crystallites ranging from 4 to 12 nm. In situ hydrogen absorption curves on milling reveal that nanocomposite formation occurs in less than 50 min through the consecutive synthesis of the TiH(2) and MgH(2) phases. The abrasive and catalytic properties of TiH(2) speed up the formation of the MgH(2) phase. Thermodynamic, kinetic and cycling hydrogenation properties have been determined for the 0.7MgH(2)-0.3TiH(2) composite and compared to nanometric MgH(2). Only the MgH(2) phase desorbs hydrogen reversibly at moderate temperature (523 to 598 K) and pressure (10(-3) to 1 MPa). The presence of TiH(2) does not modify the thermodynamic properties of the Mg/MgH(2) system. However, the MgH(2)-TiH(2) nanocomposite exhibits outstanding kinetic properties and cycling stability. At 573 K, H-sorption takes place in less than 100 s. This is 20 times faster than for a pure nanometric MgH(2) powder. We demonstrate that the TiH(2) phase inhibits grain coarsening of Mg, which allows extended nucleation of the MgH(2) phase in Mg nanoparticles before a continuous and blocking MgH(2) hydride layer is formed. The low crystallinity of the TiH(2) phase and its hydrogenation properties are also compatible with a gateway mechanism for hydrogen transfer from the gas phase to Mg. Mg-rich MgH(2)-TiH(2) nanocomposites are an excellent media for hydrogen storage at moderate temperatures.     

Enthalpy, heat of fusion and specific electrical resistivity of pure silver, pure copper and the binary Ag-28Cu alloy

Within the present work, recent investigation carried out with a fast pulse-heating technique on silver, copper and the Ag-28Cu binary alloy in the solid and the molten states are presented.Properties like enthalpy or electrical resistivity of a pulse-heated sample can be obtained for a wide temperature range (solid state up into the liquid state) from the directly measured base quantities, namely: current through the sample, voltage drop across the specimen and pyrometric determined temperature. As a further result, enthalpy of fusion is computable from the enthalpy values at the melting transition or the solidus/liquidus transition. These thermophysical properties (mainly of the melting transition and the subsequent liquid phase) are commonly used as input data for numerical casting simulations.The measurements presented within this work deal with group¹ 11 elements silver, copper and the binary eutectic 72-28 (wt.%) alloy of the two elements, respectively. One of the main goals of this work is to investigate to which extent the thermophysical properties of the two pure materials influence or determine the properties of its corresponding alloy. It is to proof if data for pure materials can be used to predict the thermophysical properties of simple alloys. For this specific copper-silver alloy, there is a certain mutual solid solubility with a quite large miscibility gap. Ag-28Cu is not a single phase alloy but an eutectic alloy with two phases.