Nanomaterials are
advanced materials with novel properties and extensive applications. A
composite material is a mixture of two or more materials with entirely
different characteristics from that of component materials. Among these two or
more component materials, at least one should be of nanometer size. Some of the
properties of nanocomposites are extremely small size, large surface area and
interfacial phase interaction. Nanocomposites are extensively used to improve
the performance of drugs, catalysts and biomaterials. There are two types of
nanocomposites. They are polymer based nanocomposites and nonpolymer based
nanocomposites. In polymer based nanocomposites, a polymer matrix and filler is
used. The dimension of filler should be less than 100 nm in any one direction. The
commonly used filler materials are clays, nanotubes and nanoparticles. One
example is carbon black and fumed silica filled polymers. Nonpolymer based nanocomposites
are of three types. They are metal/metal nanocomposites, metal/ceramic
nanocomposites and ceramic/ceramic nanocomposites.
