ABSTRACT
Developments in nanoscale science and technology and their applications to polymers and fibers suggest that we are at the initial stages of another revolutionary period that will bring about polymeric and fibrous materials with properties not yet seen. The field of polymer/carbon nanotube composites alone is expected to open new vistas in materials properties. About 100 research papers were published on polymer/carbon nanotube composites in the 1991-2000 period. However, the number of publications in this field is growing at a rapid rate, with 80, 160, and over 300 publications in 2001, 2002, and 2003, respectively. The pace of this research activity is only going to grow, as carbon nanotubes, and particularly single-wall carbon nanotubes, become more affordable, and as methods are developed to synthesize or separate SWNTs of specific chirality and diameter. Due to variation in electronic structure, different types of nanotubes are likely to have different interactions with a given polymer. There are many different solvents or solvent combinations (surfactant/water, organic solvents, inorganic acids, etc.) that can be used to disperse nanotubes in polymers. And there are literally unlimited opportunities for nanotube functionalization, and for chemical reaction with polymers. One can quickly see that there are thousands of combinations (polymer/nanotube/solvents/chemical reactions) on which to base experiments.
