- Advances in Materials Research in Japan -

Ongoing Multiclient Program|Current Phase (Phase X)|Backissue Report List

Current Phase (Phase X)

Due to the recent advancement of polymer synthesis technology, kinds of polymer topology that can be designed and synthesized on nanoscale have expanded widely from the linear chain polymers to dendrimers, star polymers, hyperbranched polymers and large cyclic polymers.

In this report, recent R&D of the following nanopolymers will be discussed.
(1) Nanopolymers for optical fiber and coating materials
(2) Nanopolymers for electroluminescence (EL) display materials
(3) Dendrimers as nanomaterials
(4) Polypeptide self-assembly for molecular electronics
(5) Nanopolymers as biomedical materials

Recent research and development status of polymer nanocomposites in Japan are not much published and in this report, these status will be discussed in the following chapters:

(1)	Industry status of polymer nanocomposites including commercialization status, applications, and uses.
(2)	R&D status of various nanocomposites including polyamides, polyolefins, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polyacrylates, polymethacrylates, saturated polyesters, polylactic acids, other engineering polymers such as polyacetal, polycarbonate and polyimide, thermosetting polymers, elastomers and special composites containing nanoparticles.
(3)	R&D trend including issues and outlook

Nanoparticles and nanoclusters are paid attention as the useful materials of nanotechnologies. Atoms and molecules are converted to nanoclusters by agglomeration, reaction and growth and the cluster is grown to nanoparticles of which diameter is less than 100 nm.
By using quantum size effect, nanoparticles are expected to be applied to the single electron device, quantum dots and light emitting device. For these applications, nano-particle size selection technology and growth control technology are considered to be very important. By the size of the particles, nanoparticle show different characteristics so that development of manufacturing technology of particles with high purity, sphere and uniform size are very important.
R&D status of semiconductor nanoparticles and nanoceramics are to be discussed in this report on manufacturing technologies, special characteristics and potential applications. Semiconductor nanoparticles are expected to be applied to displays, solar cells and LED using the quantum size effect. Nanoceramics are expected to improve greatly the ceramics performance such as hardness, tenacity and plasticity greatly and they are expected to be applied in robot and automobile/aircraft engine parts.