Polyamide/nanosilica nanocomposite: a chronicle of design and high-tech progressions

ABSTRACT

Nanosilica (silica nanoparticle) has unique nanostructure, properties, and wide-ranging applications. Polyamide belongs to the category of thermoplastic polymer which may occur both naturally and synthetically. This state-of-the-art review actually outlines the capability of nanosilica to form high-performance polyamide nanocomposites. The polyamide and polyamide blend matrices have been reinforced with nanosilica nanoparticles to form polyamide/nanosilica nanocomposite and polyamide blend/nanosilica nanocomposite. Different techniques have been used to fabricate polyamide/nanosilica nanocomposites including in situ method, melt blending, solution mixing, etc. The polyamide/nanosilica nanocomposites have revealed unique morphology and enhanced mechanical, thermal, rheological, viscoelastic, non-flammability, and membrane properties. The performance of polyamide/nanosilica nanocomposite was found to be related to interfacial interactions between matrix and nanofiller. Particularly, nanosilica dispersion has found to affect the specific polyamide properties such as morphology, crystallisation, thermal stability, strength, and other physical properties. Consequently, the nanocomposites have been used to form the advanced hybrids for coatings, membranes, and nonflammable materials.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Polyamide
• nanosilica
• interface
• nanocomposite
• non-flammable

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ayesha Kausar

Ayesha Kausarhas experience of working at National Centre for Physics, Islamabad, Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan, and National University of Sciences and Technology, 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.