Polybenzimidazole-based nanocomposite: current status and emerging developments

ABSTRACT

Polybenzimidazole (PBI) is a heat resistant, mechanically robust, and chemically resistant heterocyclic thermoplastic polymer. Incorporation of nanofiller in PBI matrix has motivated extensive research progress in the field of nanocomposite. This treatise is devoted to updating the development, processing, and physicochemical characterizations of polybenzimidazole-based nanocomposite. The nanocomposite has been essentially focused in three categories i.e. PBI/carbon nanotube, PBI/graphene, and PBI/graphene oxide. Moreover, this article offers concise perception of polybenzimidazole-based nanocomposite relevance for supercapacitor, gas separation, strengthened materials, and fuel cell. Design of polybenzimidazole/nanocarbon-based architectures may facilitate appropriate tailoring of overall performance of the resulting PBI nanocomposite for advance technical applications.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Polybenzimidazole
• nanocomposite
• strength
• gas separation
• supercapacitor

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ayesha Kausar

Ayesha Kausar works at National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan. She has previously worked for National Centre for Physics and Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan. She obtained her PhD from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad/KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology), Graduate School of EEWS, Daejeon, Republic of Korea. Her research interests include: synthesis, characterization and structure-property relationships of new polymeric materials; synthesis of nanomaterials including organic–inorganic nanocomposites/hybrid materials; polymeric blends via incorporating nanoparticles into thin polymer films; exploring practical and potential prospects of the novel synthesized materials (new polymers and nanomaterials) counting morphological, mechanical, thermal, electrical, conducting, etc.; flame retardant materials; proton conducting fuel cell membranes; nanocomposites for polymer Li-ion battery electrodes; composites based on electrospun nanofibers; production of various polymeric nanoparticles and their composites for solar cells; polymer/carbon nanotube/nanoparticle composites for water treatment; potential of polymer/graphite nanocomposites; polymer/graphene hybrids; polymer/fullerene nanomaterials; fabrication of epoxy-based nanocomposite for various applications; radar absorbing materials; aerospace relevance, and other technical relevances.