ABSTRACT
The successful cases reported here were deliberately selected from the relatively simple ones so as to allow a clear illustration of the underlying molecular engineering principles. The general trend already emerging in the field is however to design more and more sophisticated “smart” materials able to adapt themselves to complex situations and precise external stimuli, in other words high-performance “functional systems.” In the design of multiphase polymer-based materials, one is often confronted with the problem of having to disperse small particles homogeneously, i.e., at or below 100 nm, in a polymer matrix of a given structure, while ensuring interfacial adhesion and noncoalescence of these particles. A conducting polymer composite material usually consists of a randomly distributed conducting filler throughout an insulating polymer matrix. The choice of the components is crucial for efficient results, and most importantly, there must be a good balance between the filler-filler and the filler-polymer interactions.
