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Polymer nanocomposites: 35 years on

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Abstract

From the beginning of plastic technology, additives have been used to enhance and tune performance. In the 1990s, a community emerged asking what impact nanoparticle additives with at least one dimension less than ~10–50 nm would have on a polymer matrix, and if the resulting multicomponent systems afforded opportunities for new applications. Thirty-five years on, polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) have not only enriched filled plastics technology, but drove an expansion of polymer use in new applications while contributing fundamental insights to materials chemistry and physics at the nanoscale. Based on an analysis of more than 111,000 papers and 800 patents, we discuss the breadth, technical impact, and cross-fertilization among different nanoparticle-based PNCs. The initial focus on structural components with thermomechanical performance at reduced weight has given way to multifunctional films, fibers, and coatings for electronics, sensors, biotechnology, packaging, filtration, energy storage, environmental engineering, and sustainability. As nanoparticles, scalable synthesis, processing concepts, and applications expand, prior insights, improved physics-based understanding of processing and properties, and emerging data science tools will accelerate the design and assessment of future PNC solutions.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The authors would like to thank M. Carey and L. Kotouch for their help in accessing some of the data.

Funding

Funding for this project was provided by the Air Force Research Laboratory, specifically the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, USA

    Dhriti Nepal, Jeffrey Haines & Richard A. Vaia

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  1. Dhriti Nepal
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  2. Jeffrey Haines
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  3. Richard A. Vaia
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All authors contributed equally to data generation and analysis. D.N. and R.A.V. contributed equally to article development.

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Correspondence to Richard A. Vaia.

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Nepal, D., Haines, J. & Vaia, R.A. Polymer nanocomposites: 35 years on. MRS Bulletin 49, 236–246 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43577-023-00639-9

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