ABSTRACT
Polymer nanocomposites have been an area of active research for the past 20 years. The eld is relatively young, essentially begun during the late 1980s, with the discovery by Toyota Research and Development Labs [1,2] that some important properties of polymers could be improved even as their total material cost was reduced by introducing clays as additives. As such, understanding of the interplay between nanoparticle (NP) and matrix has advanced rapidly within a short period of time. The consequences of this have been threefold: (1) nanocomposites have made considerable advances beyond laboratory benchtops to be adopted in industry for industrial and consumer goods; (2) there has been a substantial push to improve specic properties of bulk materials, sometimes at the expense of real structure/property understanding; and (3) the imperative to gain a competitive edge in this eld has allowed basic science to regain the upper hand. Understanding the role of ller materials in improving the properties of matrix materials is now crucial to advancing the frontier in nanocomposite technology. This can be done primarily through studying the chemistry of the interface and the unique properties found at the interphase region of the polymer matrix.
