New Method For Developing Mechanically-reinforced Polymer Nanocomposites Developed

At Case Western Reserve University, scientists have developed a new method for developing mechanically-reinforced polymer nanocomposites. The incorporation of nanoparticles into polymers is a design approach that is widely used in all areas of materials science, says Christoph Weder of Case Western Reserve University, senior author of the paper in Nature Nanotechnology.

In this new approach, their team used a process in which the reinforced nanoparticles are first assembled into a three-dimensional network through gelation of nanoparticle dispersion, essentially forming a template. This template can then be filled with any polymer of choice by exchanging the solvent with a polymer-containing solution.

"Through the use of this new technique, we have been able to take the most incompatible components and show that they can be used to make compatible materials," said Weder.

While the research primarily focused on cellulose "whiskers" as the choice of nanoparticles since they offer useful mechanical properties and are readily obtained from renewable biosources such as wood and cotton, Capadona (other fellow team member) explained, the team also started to investigate an array of different polymers and nanofibers, demonstrating that the technique has broad applicability.

Source: 1. Case Western Reserve University. "New Method For Developing Mechanically-reinforced Polymer Nanocomposites Developed.
2.ScienceDaily 4 January 2008. 7 January 2008