Recent advances in polymer/nanodiamond composites – from synthesis and fabrication to properties and applications

Nanodiamond (ND) is an allotrope of carbon nanomaterials which exhibits many outstanding physical, mechanical, thermal, optical and biocompatibility characteristics. Meanwhile, ND particles possess unique spherical shape containing diamond-like structure at the core with graphitic carbon outer shell which contains many oxygen-containing functional groups at the outer surface. Such superior properties and unique structural morphology of NDs make it attractive to develop polymer composites with multifunctional properties. Despite the discovery of NDs at the 1960s, this nanoparticle has been less explored in the field of polymer (nano)composites compared with other carbon nanomaterials, e.g. carbon nanotube and graphene. Open literature indicates that research works in the field of polymer/ND (PND) composites have gained great momentum in the past half a decade. In this talk we shall review on recent achievements in ND based polymer composites, raging from the synthesis, purification and functionalization aspects of NDs to dispersion, preparation and fabrication of PND composites with a look in their recent applications for medical applications.