Historical Perspective
Polymer/nanodiamond composites - a comprehensive review from synthesis and fabrication to properties and applications

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cis.2019.04.006Get rights and content

Highlights

  • An overview on polymer/nanodiamond (PND) composites with a new look at processing-structure-properties relationship.

  • ND exhibits a unique structure with outstanding inherent properties.

  • Detailed ND dispersion techniques and PND fabrication protocols are given.

  • The latest achievements of PND characterizations are reviewed.

  • The potential aptitude of PNDs in structural and functional applications is demonstrated.

Abstract

Nanodiamond (ND) is an allotrope of carbon nanomaterials which exhibits many outstanding physical, mechanical, thermal, optical and biocompatibility characteristics. Meanwhile, ND particles possess unique spherical shape containing diamond-like structure at the core with graphitic carbon outer shell which intuitively contains many oxygen-containing functional groups at the outer surface. Such superior properties and unique structural morphology of NDs are essentially attractive to develop polymer composites with multifunctional properties. However, despite a long history from the discovery of NDs, which is dated back to the1960s, this nanoparticle has been less explored in the field of polymer (nano)composites compared with other carbon nanomaterials, e.g. carbon nanotube (CNT) and graphene. However, open literature indicates that research works in the field of polymer/ND (PND) composites have gained great momentum in the past half a decade. The present article provides a comprehensive review on recent achievements in ND based polymer composites. This review covers a very broad aspect from the synthesis, purification and functionalization of NDs to dispersion, preparation and fabrication of polymer/ND (PND) composites with a look in their recent applications for both structural and functional basis. Therefore, the review would be useful to pave the way for researchers to take some advancing steps in this respect.

Introduction

Since emerging nanotechnology in the early 1990s, nanoparticles have opened up new opportunities and challenges for researchers to develop high performance polymer nano-composites (PNCs). Indeed, the modern PNC was first introduced by the Toyota Research Group in 1993 by successful dispersion of silicate layers of montmorillonite (MMT) in polymer matrix which illustrated significant property improvement with a few percent of MMT [[1], [2], [3]]. However, this field, i.e. PNCs, has become much exciting since multifunctional nanoparticles, i.e. nanoparticles having simultaneously many outstanding characteristics such as electrical, mechanical, biocompatibility and thermal stability, have shown to be able to produce multifunctional composite materials where both structural and functional (non-structural) properties are simultaneously met [4,5]. Many multifunctional nanoparticles such as carbon nanotube (CNT), graphene and graphene oxide have been introduced in recent decades and their influences on the performance of polymeric materials have also been well documented; although, the research in this field is still increasingly ongoing.

Superior properties of nanoparticles themselves do not assure high performance PNCs at all; however, morphological characteristics of corresponding PNCs have also prime impact on the final properties. Due to the nanoscale structure and Van der Waals forces, nanoparticles have shown a great tendency to self-aggregation, self-agglomeration and self-assembly making their dispersion into the polymer matrices very difficult; whereas nanoscale dispersion is definitely a critical requirement to take the full advantages of nanoparticles in PNCs [[6], [7], [8]]. Basically, the dispersion state of nanoparticles in polymer matrices is dominated primarily by mixing processes; however, surface characteristics of nanoparticles can also facilitate breakdown of the agglomerates to obtain better dispersion. Surface characteristics can be tailored basically by suitable surface modification of nanoparticles which can be helpful to overcome its incompatibility with hosting polymer and to obtain strong polymer/nanoparticles interfacial interaction [9]. As nanoscale dispersion and strong interfacial interaction are greatly dominated by the inherent features of nanoparticles such as shape, size, surface characteristics; therefore, any new nanoparticles motivate new challenges associated with surface modifications, mixing processes, nano-structure and morphology [[10], [11], [12]].

Nanodiamond (ND) is a kind of carbon based nanoparticles which offers diamond properties in nanometer scale. ND was first discovered in the 1960s by the former soviet scientists [13]; however, extensive research works on this nanoparticle are mostly back to recent decades. ND is available in a spherical shape with an average diameter of ~5 nm having a very narrow size distribution and relatively large surface area, i.e. typically around 400 m2/g [14]. It has also unique surface chemistry which is mostly covered by many oxygen containing groups such as carboxyl, hydroxyl, ketones and ethers [15] that are not the case in many multifunctional nanoparticles like CNT and graphene. This offers a unique opportunity to tailor readily the surface chemistry, which is basically crucial for PCNs with strong interfacial interaction between hosting polymers and nanoparticles. Moreover, ND offers a variety of outstanding properties such as exceptional bulk modulus (as high as 1000 GPa), large hardness, high thermal conductivity, great wear resistance and appropriate biocompatibility [[16], [17], [18], [19]].

The superior properties, distinctive geometrical characteristics and unique surface chemistry along with large scale production capability have made ND a competitive candidate for carbon based nanoparticles like CNT, graphene and graphene oxide (GO) in multifunctional PNCs. However, the research works devoted to polymer/ND (PND) (nano-) composites are rather new and the number of publications for PND is still far below the CNT and graphene based PNCs. However, there has been an increasing trend in the number of publications for PND over the past few years. Statistical data shown in Fig. 1 reveals almost 570 publications in the field of PND during 13 years, whereas almost 76 publications have been published only in 2018.

The review articles and book chapters dealing specifically with ND are numerous which have basically focused on the synthesis, surface chemistry/functionalization and applications of NDs with a minor look at the PND composites in some cases [20]. However, comprehensive review articles dedicated specifically to PND composites are very rare. Current review articles published in the field of PND [18,[21], [22], [23]] are missing many recent achievements in PND composites, as the research in the field of PNDs has gained momentum over the past three years (see Fig. 1), or sometimes they are limited to a specific polymer nanocomposites, e.g. rubber based nanocomposites in [21], or report narrow applications of PND [22,[24], [25], [26]].

Recent studies have shown that the development of the interphase region in PNCs has a crucial role on the final performance. Depending on the polymer and nanoparticle systems, the interphase region might include highly glassy polymer, highly crosslinked network or crystalline morphology (called trans-crystallinity or interfacial crystallinity) leading to significant improvement in mechanical properties and in some cases cause over-expected enhancement in PNCs performance [[27], [28], [29]]. Overall, the interface and interphase in PNCs along with the nanoscale dispersions are closely related to the polymer/nanoparticles nature as well as the processing conditions. Accordingly, a comprehensive look at the current achievements in the field of PND composites can provide a deep insight into the potential aptitude of ND in development of strong interface/interphase and nanoscale dispersion in PND composites. Therefore, a state of the art literature review focusing on the capability of ND in dominating the microstructure and the properties of PND would be much instructive that is our main motivation in this overview.

This review article is based on the latest achievement in the field of PND composites with an emphasis on the processing-structure-property relationship. Accordingly, the structure as well as inherent properties of ND is first reviewed with a glance to its potential aptitude to develop multifunctional PND with commercially reasonable price. The current achievements in the surface modifications specifically the ones solely targeted for PNDs are reviewed and the different processing methodologies examined till date are presented. The effectiveness of ND on mechanical, thermal, tribological, rheological properties and biocompatibility of various polymers currently studied is presented with a curious emphasis on identifying the influences of the morphology, the polymer/ND interface, interphase and processing conditions. Then, the various applications of PNDs, divided into structural and functional applications, are reviewed to demonstrate the potential benefits of PNDs in different fields. Finally, potential aptitudes of ND in developing polymer composites are discussed and future challenges and opportunities in this composite are presented. Fig. 2. shows schematically different aspects of PNDs which would be covered in this review article.

Section snippets

Synthesis and properties of ND

Obviously, processing characteristics and properties of PND composites are greatly dominated by geometrical features of ND, i.e. shape, size and size distribution of primary particles and aggregates, as well as its inherent surface and bulk properties. As these features are closely related to the synthesis methods of NDs, this section is aimed to provide a brief overview on the various methods of synthesis and production of NDs at both laboratory and large commercial scales as well as the

Dispersion techniques of ND into polymers

Nanolevel dispersion of nanoparticles in polymer matrices is a challenging step for fabrication of PNCs, so if it is well implemented, considerable properties enhancement can be achieved by few amount of nanoparticle. NDs with spherical shape offer great opportunity for nanoscale dispersion in polymer matrices compared with 1-D carbon nanoparticles, e.g. CNT because of difficulty in disentangling of bundles, and 2-D carbon nanoparticles, e.g. GO because of difficulty due to restocking of the

Establishment of strong interphase: a critical requirement for properties enhancement

Strong interfacial interaction between reinforcing particle and polymer matrix is crucial to achieve desirable level of reinforcement in polymer composites [195,202]. Otherwise, insufficient interfacial interactions cause weak load transfer from polymer matrix to the reinforcement which promote significant stress concentration at interface region deteriorating the performance of polymer composites [260]. Basically, the influence of interface region and the degree of interfacial interaction

Applications

As stated before, ND possesses a large and accessible surface area with rich and active surface functional groups, which enable it to achieve uniform distribution in different media including polymeric matrices, to conjugate with a wide range of materials such as polymeric chains and biomolecules and also to benefit its catalytic activity [30,324,325]. In this article, the structural and functional applications of ND in polymeric matrices have been reviewed. The structural applications of ND

Conclusions and perspective

In this article, an overview on the recent research works conducted on PND with new insights into the structure-processing-properties was provided. First, history, synthesis, structure, and properties of ND particles were summarized. ND particles synthesized by detonation process (DND) is noteworthy due to its capability to be produced in large scale with reasonable price. Exceptional properties of ND and its inherent rich surface chemistry, particularly DND, make this 0-D nanoparticle much

Funding

The present research was supported by Research Deputy of Sharif University of Technology.

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