A novel reconstituted high-density lipoprotein (rHDL) nanocomposite has been prepared for highly-sensitive magnetic resonance (MR)fluorescence multimodal imaging. Such a nanocomposite is able to enhance the MR sensitivity up to 129 fold in comparison to the traditional small molecule MRI agent based on paramagnetic chemical exchange saturation transfer (PARACEST). It has also demonstrated speci...

Structural, electronic, and optical properties of hybrid silicene and graphene (S/G) nanocomposite are examined with density functional theory calculations. It turns out that weak van der Waals interactions dominate between silicene and graphene with their intrinsic electronic properties preserved. Interestingly, interlayer interactions in hybrid S/G nanocomposite induce tunable p-type and n-ty...

Frontal polymerization has been successfully used to synthesize poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) nanocomposite hydrogels containing graphene. The latter was directly achieved by ultrasound treatment of a dispersion of graphite inN-methylpyrrolidone. The dispersion, having the concentration of 2.21 g L , was characterized by TEM analysis and mixed with suitable amounts of N-isopropylacrylamide for th...

A highly flexible nanocomposite was developed by coating a regenerated cellulose film with a thin layer of tin oxide (SnO2) by liquid-phase deposition. Tin oxide was crystallized in solution and formed nanocrystal coatings on regenerated cellulose. The nanocrystalline layers did not exfoliate from cellulose. Transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy suggest that ...

Dielectric properties of in-situ formed silver (Ag) incorporated carbon black (CB)/polymer composites were studied. In-situ formed Ag nanoparticles in the Ag/CB/epoxy composites increased the dielectric constant (K) value and decreased the dissipation factor (Df). The remarkably increased dielectric constant of the nanocomposite is due to the piling of charges at the extended interface of the i...

Inspired by the relationship between interface interactions and the high performance mechanical properties of nacre, a strong and tough nacre-inspired nanocomposite was demonstrated based on graphene oxide (GO) and polyacrylic acid (PAA) prepared via a vacuum-assisted filtration self-assembly process. The abundant hydrogen bonding between GO and PAA results in both high strength and toughness o...

The aim of this research is the thermostructural study of Cu-Ti, Cu-Ti 1 vol% multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and Cu-Ti 3 vol% MWCNTs. Several investigation techniques were used to achieve this objective. Dilatometric data show that the coefficient of thermal expansion of the nanocomposite containing less multiwall carbon nanotubes is linear and small. The same nanocomposite exhibits regula...

The enhanced thermal stability of polymer-clay nanocomposites over the original polymers is one of their most interesting features and it has been profusely studied within the last decades. Here, a thorough kinetic analysis of polystyrene and a montmorillonite-polystyrene nanocomposite has been performed making use of state-of-the-art kinetic procedures. It has been found that the degradation m...

The present study examined the gas-phase photocatalytic degradation of toluene using ZnO-SnO2 nanocomposite supported on activated carbon in a photocatalytic reactor. Toluene was selected as a model pollutant from volatile organic compounds to determine the pathway of photocatalytic degradation and the factors influencing this degradation. The ZnO-SnO2 nanocomposite was synthesized through co-p...

This paper characterizes the fracture toughness of layer-by-layer (LBL) manufactured thin films with elastic polyurethane, a tough polymer, and poly(acrylic acid) as a stiffening agent. A single-edge-notch tension (SENT) specimen is used to study mode I crack propagation as a function of applied loading. Experimental results for the full-field time histories of the strain maps in the fracturing...