Hydrogels sensitive to electric current are usually made of polyelectrolytes and undergo erosion, swelling, de-swelling or bending in the presence of an applied electric field. The electrical conductivity of many polymeric materials used for the fabrication of biomedical devices is not high enough to achieve an effective modulation of the functional properties, and thus, the incorporation of co...

A flexible and robust piezoelectric nanogenerator (NG) based on a polymer-ceramic nanocomposite structure has been successfully fabricated via a cost-effective and scalable template-assisted hydrothermal synthesis method. Vertically aligned arrays of dense and uniform zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires (NWs) with high aspect ratio (diameter ∼250 nm, length ∼12 μm) were grown within nanoporous polycarbo...

New nontoxic hydrophilic nanocomposites containing metallic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in a polymer matrix were synthesized by the chemical reduction of silver ions in an aqueous medium. A new nontoxic water soluble copolymer of 1-vinyl-1,2,4-triazole and N-vinylpyrrolidone synthesized by free radical-initiated polymerization was used as a stabilizing agent. Transmission electron microscopy, ...

Polymeric nanoparticles are becoming increasingly important in a variety of biological applications, such as biomolecular sensing, diagnostic imaging, and therapeutic drug delivery. For these applications, the mass production of multifunctional nanocomposite materials with precise control of particle size, shape, and composition is a significant challenge. For instance, the use of conventional ...

This paper reviews recent advances in the field of developing industrial polymers by nanocomposites materials. The discussed materials have been attracted in both academic and industrial attention because they exhibit dramatic improvement in properties at selected low filler contents. Herein, the types and forms of industrial polymer, structure, and properties of polymer–nanocomposites are disc...

In this study, we discover unexpectedly that simple reaction of AgNO3 with oleic acid (OA) without solvent and surfactant could generate alkyl free radical which can catalyze double-bond polymerization of OA to form 1D polymeric oleic acid (POA) chain. In certain conditions, these POA chains circumvolute tightly each other to form microspheres and micro-plates in which monodisperse 4-5 nm Ag na...

It is well known that magnetic energy of the piezoelectric beam is relatively small, and it does not change the overall dynamics. Therefore, the models, relying on electrostatic or quasi-static approaches, completely ignore the magnetic energy stored/produced in the beam. A single piezoelectric beammodel without the magnetic effects is known to be exactly observable and exponentially stabilizab...

This paper reviews the state-of-the art in vibration energy harvesting for wireless, self-powered microsystems. Vibration-powered generators are typically, although not exclusively, inertial spring and mass systems. The characteristic equations for inertial-based generators are presented, along with the specific damping equations that relate to the three main transduction mechanisms employed to...