Page 555 - Polymer-based Nanocomposites for Energy and Environmental Applications

508 Polymer-based Nanocomposites for Energy and Environmental Applications

Besides, it is also evident that the increases in demand for energy will be unsatisfied
in a near future because of the limitation of available energy sources from the Earth
and a shortage of fossil fuels is predictable at more or less long term. The search for
new energy sources, known as renewable energy sources, has become little by little
then more and more necessary to replace fossil ones. Indeed, progress in materials
science has brought about ideas and solutions not only to answer to the limited avail-
able energy reserves but also to address the preservation of the environment in which
we live. In this optic, nuclear energy is not considered as a friendly environmental
energy source because of the inherent risk of the used materials in this technology.
The advances concern both the knowledge of physical and chemical processes and
the control of synthesis of materials. A great part of the new and important materials
is composites, using the interesting properties of the components to fulfill their role in
the production of energy and in the protection of the environment.
To deal with environmental issues, new energy resources also called the green
energies can be classified into three categories depending on the developed strategies
and approaches. The first category relates to the energy production and includes
solar, wind, and ocean energies, which are natural energies and can be theoretically
inexhaustible. Hydrogen is considered as a derived natural source since it does not
occur in nature. The second category concerns the energy storage, avoiding loss and
waste due to an excess of production. It covers batteries, which store electric energy,
and devices storing hydrogen as a fuel. The third category is linked to energy
savings, which are not properly speaking an energy resource but rather an approach
to improve the energy consumption and to reduce the amount of energy supply
needed and its impact on the environment. The most important energy economy
concerns lighting applications, which consists of replacing existing lighting by
high-efficiency one.
In this chapter, we shall first describe polymer-based hybrid or nanocomposite
materials and review the principal materials, polymers, and inorganic fillers, which
are expected to be used to face the environmental challenges. Next, the synthesis tech-
niques of composites are reviewed and discussed since they impact upon the produc-
tion cost of the materials. Then, we present the three technology pathways
(production, storage, and savings) for a sustainable energy future. For each of them,
we present the hybrid materials chosen to address the energy problems and discuss the
way they are used to contribute to improve the environmental conditions.

19.2 Preparation and characterization of hybrid
composites

19.2.1 Types of hybrid composites

Hybrid composites are special materials composed of organic components (usually
polymers) and inorganic components. A special term “nanocomposite” is used to suit-
ably describe such hybrid organic-inorganic composites when incorporating either
component in nanoscale. The main different types of hybrid composites (or
nanocomposites) are listed in this part.