Nano at nineteen

Although the exploitation of nanostructured materials can be traced back hundreds of years, many authors cite John Lewis´ 1994 paper, “Nanometric Dielectrics” [1], as a convenient start of the current interest in nanodielectrics. As such, nanodielectrics are 19 this year and, like many teenagers, they are not easy to deal with. This paper begins with a brief overview of how the subject of nanodielectrics has developed in the subject´s formative years and then considers the implications and challenges that are emerging. To illustrate this, two examples have been chosen from recent work at Southampton that specifically relate to interfaces and interphases. First, chemical interactions between a nanofiller and an epoxy matrix are explored by varying the number of functional groups attached to the nanosilica surface. Second, the effect of nanosilica on structure and breakdown in polyethylene-based systems is described, in which the length of the aliphatic chains attached to the nanofiller surface was adjusted. In both cases, pronounced and systematic variations in properties are revealed.