Recent innovations in properties of nanostructured glasses and composites

Abstract

The thrust to invent new materials and technology has been ever increasing due to technological challenges in progressive world. Among new materials, nanomaterials possess superior optical, electrical, magnetic, mechanical, and thermal properties, which have made them suitable for a multitude of applications. The present review paper deals with recent advances in properties of nanostructured glasses and composites in terms optical, electrical, mechanical and thermal properties. A brief discussion has been done on fabrication method of nanostructured glasses. The review of optical properties shows that nanostructured glasses show both direct and indirect band gap and this tuning of band gap depends on extent of nano structuring of samples. The electrical properties also show enhancement in electrical conductivity on nano-structuring of glasses compared to their bulk counterparts. The changes in mechanical and thermal properties of nanostructured glasses and composites are attributed to many microstructural features like grain size and shape, their distribution, pores and their distribution, other flaws/defects and their distribution, surface condition, impurity level, second phases/dopants, stress, duration of its application and temperature effect on the samples. Literature reports that nano structuring leads to enhanced phonon boundary scattering which reduces the thermal conductivity.

A Comparative Analysis of Standard and Nano-Structured Glass for Enhancing Heat Transfer and Reducing Energy Consumption Using Metal and Oxide Nanoparticles: A Review

“…Modern technological applications of glass in diverse fields such as engineering, medicine, energy, communication and medicine, and communications are crucially dependent on our appreciation and awareness of the intrinsic connections between glass and nanotechnology [37][38][39][40][41]. Understanding the realistic mechanism of glass fabrication at the nanoscale size has recently been proved and a huge number of nano-materials applications have widely been studied and investigated, especially in mechanical engineering, i.e., the thermal and optical distinct properties of glass treated at the nanoscale size [42][43][44][45][46][47][48]. This has led literally to insight into the thermal and optical properties of the glass structure, band and micro-crack theories, surface modification, and controlled crystallization [49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56].…”

“…Serious of research works are needed on the nanostructured glass making owing to its wide range of applications. Nanostructured glasses possess improved mechanical strength than other conventional glasses [43]. They made of small size complex structure which enables them to increase their strength and toughness with enhanced optical properties.…”

Modified sol-gel process for synthesis of molybdenum oxide-doped titanium dioxide

“…The synthesis method may be tailored to achieve specific properties according to the type of application. The proposed method can be effectively altered to obtain desired products by varying parameters, such as the amount of precursor, acid, and water as well as the frequency and duration of ultrasonication and stirring speed, which play a role in the determining the properties of the resulting product [ 3 , 12 ].…”

“…The synthesis of titanium dioxide has been widely investigated by different methods, including solid-phase synthesis, such as sputtering, gas-phase synthesis, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and liquid-phase synthesis, such as the sol-gel method [1] , [2] , [3] , [4] .…”