Non-carbon nanotubes are an alternative material to better-explored carbon nanotubes, showing advantages such as easy synthetic access and high crystallinity,[16] good uniformity and dispersion, predefined electrical conductivity depending on the composition of the starting material and needle-like morphology, good adhesion to a number of polymers and high impact-resistance.
[18][19] The mechanical strength of cellulose fibers can be increased by an order of magnitude by adding only 0.1 wt% of TMCH nanotubes, and measurements of electrical conductivity of polycaprolactone doped with TMCH nanotubes revealed a percolative behavior with an extremely low percolation threshold.
[20] The addition of WS2 nanotubes to epoxy resin improved adhesion, fracture toughness and strain energy release rate.
The enhanced stiffness and toughness of PMMA fiber meshes by means of non-carbon nanotubes addition may have potential applications as impact-absorbing materials.
Nanodevices based on one-dimensional nanomaterials are thought for next-generation electronic and photoelectronic systems having small size, faster transport speed, higher efficiency and less energy consumption.
[23] Tungsten disulfide nanotubes have been investigated as reinforcing agents to improve the mechanical properties of biodegradable polymeric nanocomposites for bone tissue engineering applications.