Achievements in manufacturing of non-layered inorganic nanoparticles/thermoplastics polymer composites

Because inorganic nanoparticles tend to agglomerate and their hydrophilic surface is nearly incompatible with hydrophobic polymers, they have to present themselves in the form of large agglomerates in the polymer composites, which results in poor properties of the composites. The fabrication of nanoparticles/polymer composites via conventional compounding should still be workable. The key issue lies in the effective dispersion and the application of the nanoparticles. The current paper reviews the recent achievements in surface modification of nanoparticles and processing aided dispersion techniques during blending with polymers.