Since their first allusion, carbon nanotubes have attracted significant research interest, especially with respect to composite manufacturing as a filler material for enhancing their mechanical and electrical properties. Several methods have been developed for modifying the electrical properties of carbon nanotubes such as CNTs wall's carbon atoms substitution with other appropriate atoms including engineering of their outer surfaces by covalent and noncovalent molecules, such as CNTs channel filling and nano-chemical reactions therein. CNTs with tailored electrical conduction open large perspectives for their applicabilities in advanced technologies. Taking into consideration the innovative advantages of pure and hybrid CNTs, in this article we have comprehensively reviewed the latest state-of-art research developments in the direction of different synthesis strategies, structure-property relationships, and advanced applications towards energy storage, supercapacitors, electrodes, catalytic supports, as well as biosensing.

Hydroxyapatite is a calcium phosphate intensively proposed as a bone substitution material because of its resemblance to the constituents of minerals present in natural bone. Since hydroxyapatite's properties are mainly adequate for non-load bearing applications, different solutions are being tested for improving these properties and upgrading them near the target-values of natural bone. On the other hand, starch (a natural and biodegradable polymer) and its blends with other polymers have been proposed as constituents in hydroxyapatite mixtures due to the adhesive, gelling and swelling abilities of starch particles, useful in preparing well dispersed suspensions and consolidated ceramic bodies. This article presents the perspectives of

Ever since the discovery of graphene, its potential has been predicted for a number of applications in various fields such as electronics, sensors, environmental decontamination techniques, separations and biomedicine to name a few. Among various such fields, the research in graphene-based nanocomposites membranes is still in its infancy as there is not a significant research published in this field so far. However, interestingly this field is registering an exponentially upward trend recently. This review article provides a brief description of polymer nanocomposite membranes with graphene as one of the most indispensable components in the membranes. In this article, we describe in a systematic and comprehensive manner the most recent research published so far in the nanocomposite membranes with graphene and the most commonly used polymers namely the polysulfone and the cellulose derivatives. This article also describes the main applications of these polymeric membranes in the fuel cells and in water purification processes containing the current literature data as well as the authors' own research.

This article presents a facile synthesis method used to obtain new composite films based on polylactic acid and micro-structured hydroxyapatite particles. The composite films were synthesized starting from a polymeric solution in chloroform (12 wt.%) in which various concentrations of hydroxyapatite (1, 2, and 4 wt.% related to polymer) were homogenously dispersed using ultrasonication followed by solvent evaporation. The synthesized composite films were morphologically (through SEM and atomic force microscopy (AFM)) and structurally (through FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy) characterized. The thermal behavior of the composite films was also determined. The SEM and AFM analyses showed the presence of micro-structured hydroxyapatite particles in the film’s structure, as well as changes in the surface morphology. There was a significant decrease in the crystallinity of the composite films compared to the pure polymer, this being explained by a decrease in the arrangement of the polymer chains and a concurrent increase in the degree of their clutter. The presence of hydroxyapatite crystals did not have a significant influence on the degradation temperature of the composite film.