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Advanced Multi-Functional Materials and Nanocomposites
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Advanced Multi-Functional Materials and Nanocomposites

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Advanced Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 March 2020) | Viewed by 20340

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. De-Yi Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Head of High Performance Polymer Nanocomposites Group, IMDEA Materials Institute, C/Eric Kandel, 2, 28906 Getafe, Madrid, Spain
Interests: high performance polymeric materials; fire retardant materials; functional nanocomposites; fire behaviors and mechanisms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Advanced multi-functional materials have been used widely in different fields, such as transportation, electrical and electronic equipment, aeronautics, construction, etc. due to their versatile properties. Development on new generation advanced multifunctional materials always attracts a lot of attention, from fundamentals to applications of advanced multi-functional materials. This themed issue pays close attention to cutting-edge materials, including nanostructural hybrids, polymer nanocomposites, fire safety materials, bio-based materials, smart materials and structures, etc., for specific applications.

This Themed Issue aims to provide an excellent opportunity for publishing your latest advances in the relevant research fields. Full papers, review articles and communications are all welcome.

The editorial office of the journal Materials (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/materials) aims to publish a themed Issue of selected papers related to "Advanced Multi-Functional Materials and Nanocomposites ", which will undergo a thorough peer-review process.

Prof. Dr. De-Yi Wang
Guest Editor

 

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • multi-functional materials
  • nano-engineering
  • polymer nanocomposites
  • energy-harvest
  • fire-safe materials
  • smart responsiveness
  • bio-inspired materials

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 4324 KiB  
Article
Effect of Ageing on the Tracking Characteristics of High-Temperature Vulcanized Silicone Rubber Hybrid Composites for High Voltage Insulation
by Mohamed Ghouse Shaik and Vijayarekha Karuppaiyan
Materials 2020, 13(10), 2242; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13102242 - 13 May 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2777
Abstract
Micro-sized aluminum trihydrate (ATH) filled silicone rubber is useful as insulation in the electric power system. The addition of nanofillers can improve further, its overall performance. However, the degradation of such silicone insulator due to ageing has not yet been thoroughly analysed. Motivated [...] Read more.
Micro-sized aluminum trihydrate (ATH) filled silicone rubber is useful as insulation in the electric power system. The addition of nanofillers can improve further, its overall performance. However, the degradation of such silicone insulator due to ageing has not yet been thoroughly analysed. Motivated by this, an investigation was done to observe the effect of ageing on the tracking, and the material characteristics of SiO2 nanofillers added micro-sized ATH-filled Silicone rubber. For this, the samples were prepared using different weight percentage of SiO2 nanofillers and were thermally-aged and water-aged in the laboratory environment. A well-regulated tracking-test setup was assembled, and the leakage current characteristics of the fresh, thermal-aged and water-aged samples were observed, as per international electro technical commission standard (IEC) 60,587. After tracking, the surface morphology of these samples was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Further, energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) was carried out to observe the elements present at the surface and, Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy was conducted to study the changes in the chemical structure. Investigations through the leakage current, SEM, EDAX and FTIR revealed that the addition of nanofillers improved the tracking characteristics of the aged hybrid composite insulation samples, thereby minimising any early failures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Multi-Functional Materials and Nanocomposites)
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11 pages, 5792 KiB  
Article
Superhydrophobic Methylated Silica Sol for Effective Oil–Water Separation
by Jiao Li, Hao Ding, Heqiang Zhang, Chunlin Guo, Xiaoyan Hong, Luyi Sun and Fuchuan Ding
Materials 2020, 13(4), 842; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13040842 - 13 Feb 2020
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4182
Abstract
Superhydrophobic methylated silica with a core–shell structure was successfully fabricated by a sol-gel process. First, a pristine silica gel with an average particle size of ca. 110 nm was prepared, using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as a precursor, ethanol as a solvent, and NH4 [...] Read more.
Superhydrophobic methylated silica with a core–shell structure was successfully fabricated by a sol-gel process. First, a pristine silica gel with an average particle size of ca. 110 nm was prepared, using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as a precursor, ethanol as a solvent, and NH4OH as a catalyst. Then, the superhydrophobic methylated silica sol was prepared by introducing methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS), to graft the surface of the pristine silica gel with methyl groups. The structure and morphology of the methylated silica sol were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The characterization results showed that methyl groups were successfully grafted onto the surface of the pristine silica, and the diameter of the methylated silica was increased by 5–10 nm. Various superhydrophobic surfaces on glass, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fabric, cotton, open-cell polyurethane (PU) foam, and polypropylene (PP) filter cloth were successfully constructed by coating the above substrates with the methylated silica sol and reached with a maximum static water contact angle and slide angle of 161° and 3°, respectively. In particular, the superhydrophobic PP filter cloth exhibited promising application in oil–water separation. The separation efficiency of different oil–water mixtures was higher than 96% and could be repeated at least 15 times. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Multi-Functional Materials and Nanocomposites)
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13 pages, 3598 KiB  
Article
A Comparison Study on the Characteristics of Nanofibrils Isolated from Fibers and Parenchyma Cells in Bamboo
by Xiaofeng Zhang, Hanxiao Huang, Yan Qing, Hankun Wang and Xingong Li
Materials 2020, 13(1), 237; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13010237 - 6 Jan 2020
Cited by 37 | Viewed by 4509
Abstract
In this study, bamboo fibers and parenchyma cells were separated by a physical water-medium method. To compare the characteristics of nanofibrils from these two types of cells, lignocellulose nanofibrils (LCNFs) and cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) were prepared by different processes. Atomic force microscopy analysis [...] Read more.
In this study, bamboo fibers and parenchyma cells were separated by a physical water-medium method. To compare the characteristics of nanofibrils from these two types of cells, lignocellulose nanofibrils (LCNFs) and cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) were prepared by different processes. Atomic force microscopy analysis revealed that both fibers and parenchyma cells can be separated into individual fibrils after grinding three times. However, LCNFs had a diameter of 20–40 nm, which was larger than that of CNFs (10–20 nm). Additionally, the films prepared from LCNFs had lower tensile strength, but higher hydrophobicity compared with those from CNFs. X-ray diffraction analysis and tensile test of the films showed that the nanofibrils isolated from fibers and parenchyma cells had similar crystallinity and mechanical properties. This study shows a promising application of bamboo parenchyma cells, which are usually discarded as waste in the processing of bamboo products, in the preparation of nanofibers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Multi-Functional Materials and Nanocomposites)
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11 pages, 2348 KiB  
Article
Flame Retardant Polypropylene Composites with Low Densities
by Nerea Pérez, Xiao-Lin Qi, Shibin Nie, Pablo Acuña, Ming-Jun Chen and De-Yi Wang
Materials 2019, 12(1), 152; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12010152 - 5 Jan 2019
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 4387
Abstract
Polypropylene (PP) is currently widely used in areas requiring lightweight materials because of its low density. Due to the intrinsic flammability, the application of PP is restricted in many conditions. Aluminum trihydroxide (ATH) is reported as a practical flame retardant for PP, but [...] Read more.
Polypropylene (PP) is currently widely used in areas requiring lightweight materials because of its low density. Due to the intrinsic flammability, the application of PP is restricted in many conditions. Aluminum trihydroxide (ATH) is reported as a practical flame retardant for PP, but the addition of ATH often diminishes the lightweight advantage of PP. Therefore, in this work, glass bubbles (GB) and octacedylamine-modified zirconium phosphate (mZrP) are introduced into the PP/ATH composite in order to lower the material density and simultaneously maintain/enhance the flame retardancy. A series of PP composites have been prepared to explore the formulation which can endow the composite with balanced flame retardancy, good mechanical properties, and low density. The morphology, thermal stability, flame retardancy, and mechanical properties of the composites were characterized. The results indicated the addition of GB could reduce the density, but decreased the flame retardancy of PP composites at the same time. To overcome this defect, ATH and mZrP with synergetic effect of flame retardancy were added into the composite. The dosage of each additive was optimized for achieving a balance of flame retardancy, good mechanical properties, and density. With 47 wt % ATH, 10 wt % GB, and 3 wt % mZrP, the peak heat release rate (pHRR) and total smoke production (TSP) of the composite PP-4 were reduced by 91% and 78%, respectively. At the same time, increased impact strength was achieved compared with neat PP and the composite with ATH only. Maintaining the flame retardancy and mechanical properties, the density of composite PP-4 (1.27 g·cm−3) is lower than that with ATH only (PP-1, 1.46 g·cm−3). Through this research, we hope to provide an efficient approach to designing flame retardant polypropylene (PP) composites with low density. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Multi-Functional Materials and Nanocomposites)
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14 pages, 4113 KiB  
Article
Fabrication of Functional Carbon/Magnetic Nanocomposites as A Promising Model of Utilization of Used Crosslinked Polymers
by Rasim Alosmanov, Jennet Imanova, Karol Wolski, Ralf Ziemmermann, Sylwia Fiejdasz, Janusz Przewoźnik, Kamil Goc, Czesław Kapusta, Szczepan Zapotoczny and Michał Szuwarzyński
Materials 2018, 11(12), 2595; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma11122595 - 19 Dec 2018
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3822
Abstract
The utilization of used crosslinked functional polymers (CFP) applied as sorbents or ion-exchangers is a great challenge arising from the need to protect the environment. In this paper we report a very promising way of obtaining carbon/magnetic composites based on metal (Co2+ [...] Read more.
The utilization of used crosslinked functional polymers (CFP) applied as sorbents or ion-exchangers is a great challenge arising from the need to protect the environment. In this paper we report a very promising way of obtaining carbon/magnetic composites based on metal (Co2+; Ni2+; Fe3+) derivatives of butadiene rubber-based phosphorus-containing polymer, which were treated as the model used CFP. We proposed a facile one-step thermal degradation approach to transform used CFP into carbon/magnetic composites (CMC). The obtained CMCs contained a mixture of metal phosphates and metal phosphides that exhibited strong magnetic properties due to the presence of nanosized metal derivatives with diameters of 100–140 nm. Structural and morphological changes of CFP and CMC after thermal degradation were investigated by the FTIR technique, X-ray Diffraction analysis, Scanning Electron Microscope, and Atomic Force Microscope–Magnetic Force Microscope. Moreover, thermal degradation kinetics parameters were determined to optimize the efficiency of the process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Multi-Functional Materials and Nanocomposites)
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