ELECTRON BEHAVIOR AND MAGNETIC-PROPERTIES OF POLYMER NANOCOMPOSITES

In this review article, an attempt has been made to describe the relatively new class of composite systems, polymer nanocomposites. The study of nanocomposites is determined by a number of anomalous properties, exhibited by both the nanoparticles themselves and the systems of such objects immersed in a polymer matrix. The anomalous character of nanoparticle properties is determined by their medium position between continuous bulk and single atoms. Such particles between 10 to 1000 Angstrom sometimes exhibit a number of quantum size effects that determine anomalous optical and magnetic properties. The cooperative effects of composites with interacting nanoparticles is another distinctive feature of such systems. These effects occur at the so-called percolation threshold, where the particles begin having contact with one another, whereby the interparticle contacts increase with the increase in their number. The electronic, optical and magnetic properties of composites, which change with the changes in cluster structure, are also discussed in this review.