Among the renewable resource materials, cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) is considered as an important starting material due to its unique structural features, abundant availability and low cost. A large number of chemicals and products have been developed starting from CNSL by taking advantage of the three reactive sites, namely, phenolic hydroxyl, aromatic ring and unsaturation(s) in the alkenyl side chain. This comprehensive review deals with general information on CNSL, its purification and separation methods, reactivity and applications in polymer chemistry.

This review provides a detailed overview of the latest developments using nanoscale strategies in the field of polymeric and polymer nanocomposite materials for emerging dielectric capacitor-based energy storage applications. Among the various energy storage devices, solid-state dielectric capacitors possess the advantage of high-power density which makes them highly attractive for pulsed power applications. Polymers are particularly suitable for dielectric energy storage applications because of their high breakdown strength, low dielectric loss, formability, self-healing capability, flexibility, solvent processability, and graceful breakdown failure. Strategies to enhance the dielectric breakdown strength of polymeric dielectric capacitors are emphasized in this review. General background on breakdown mechanism, breakdown characteristics, and factors influencing polymer dielectrics breakdown are introduced. Given that polymers have low permittivity, strategies to substantially enhance dipole mobility and hence the permittivity, are highlighted. We discuss strategies to address permittivity contrast between nanofillers and the polymer matrix including the potential for developing gradient permittivity structured nanofillers. To improve the compatibility of nanofiller with polymer and minimize nanofiller aggregation, different routes to surface functionalize nanoparticles are presented. An outlook and future perspectives section are provided for the design of high energy density polymer film capacitors.

Self-propelling magnetic nanorobots capable of intrinsic-navigation in biological fluids with enhanced pharmacokinetics and deeper tissue penetration implicates promising strategy in targeted cancer therapy. Here, multi-component magnetic nanobot designed by chemically conjugating magnetic Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (NPs), anti-epithelial cell adhesion molecule antibody (anti-EpCAM mAb) to multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) loaded with an anticancer drug, doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) is reported. Autonomous propulsion of the nanobots and their external magnetic guidance is enabled by enriching Fe₃O₄ NPs with dual catalytic-magnetic functionality. The nanobots propel at high velocities even in complex biological fluids. In addition, the nanobots preferably release DOX in the intracellular lysosomal compartment of human colorectal carcinoma (HCT116) cells by the opening of Fe₃O₄ NP gate. Further, nanobot reduce ex vivo HCT116 tumor spheroids more efficiently than free DOX. The multicomponent nanobot’s design represents a more pronounced method in targeting tumors with self-assisted anticancer drug delivery for ‘far-reaching’ sites in treating cancers.

Designing high energy density dielectric capacitors for advanced energy storage systems needs nanocomposite-based dielectric materials, which can utilize the properties of both inorganic and polymeric materials. Polymer-grafted nanoparticle (PGNP)-based nanocomposites alleviate the problems of poor nanocomposite properties by providing synergistic control over nanoparticle and polymer properties. Here, we synthesize "core-shell" barium titanate-poly(methyl methacrylate) (BaTiO₃-PMMA) grafted PGNPs using surface-initiated atom transfer polymerization (SI-ATRP) with variable grafting densities of (0.303 to 0.929) chains/nm² and high molecular masses (97700 g/mL to 130000 g/mol) and observe that low grafted density and high molecular mass based PGNP show high permittivity, high dielectric strength, and hence higher energy densities (≈ 5.2 J/cm³) as compared to the higher grafted density PGNPs, presumably due to their "star-polymer"-like conformations with higher chain-end densities that are known to enhance breakdown. Nonetheless, these energy densities are an order of magnitude higher than their nanocomposite blend counterparts. We expect that these PGNPs can be readily used as commercial dielectric capacitors, and these findings can serve as guiding principles for developing tunable high energy density energy storage devices using PGNP systems.

Polymer nanocomposites (PNC) have attracted enormous scientific and technological interest due to their applications in energy storage, electronics, biosensing, drug delivery, cosmetics and packaging industry. Nanomaterials (platelet, fibers, spheroids, whiskers, rods) dispersed in different types of polymer matrices constitute such PNC. The degree of dispersion of the inorganic nanomaterials in the polymer matrix, as well as the structured arrangement of the nanomaterials, are some of the key factors influencing the overall performance of the nanocomposite. To this end, the surface functionalization of the nanomaterials determines its state of dispersion within the polymer matrix. For energy storage and electronics, these nanomaterials are usually chosen for their dielectric properties for enhancing the performance of device applications. Although several reviews on surface modification of nanomaterials have been reported, a review on the surface functionalization of nanomaterials as it pertains to polymer dielectrics is currently lacking. This review summarizes the recent developments in the surface modification of important metal oxide dielectric nanomaterials including Silicon dioxide (SiO ₂ ), titanium dioxide (TiO ₂ ), barium titanate (BaTiO ₃ ), and aluminum oxide (Al ₂ O ₃ ) by chemical agents such as silanes, phosphonic acids, and dopamine. We report the impact of chemical modification of the nanomaterial on the dielectric performance (dielectric constant, breakdown strength, and energy density) of the nanocomposite. Aside from bringing novice and experts up to speed in the area of polymer dielectric nanocomposites, this review will serve as an intellectual resource in the selection of appropriate chemical agents for functionalizing nanomaterials for use in specific polymer matrix so as to potentially tune the final performance of nanocomposite.

Nanosized robots with self-propelling and navigating capabilities have become an exciting field of research, attributable to their autonomous motion and specific biomolecular interaction ability for bio-analysis and diagnosis. Here, we report magnesium (Mg)-Fe₃O₄-based Magneto-Fluorescent Nanorobot (“MFN”) that can self-propel in blood without any other additives and can selectively and rapidly isolate cancer cells. The nanobots viz; Mg-Fe₃O₄-GSH-G4-Cy5-Tf and Mg-Fe₃O₄-GSH-G4-Cy5-Ab have been designed and synthesized by simple surface modifications and conjugation chemistry to assemble multiple components viz; (i) EpCAM antibody/transferrin, (ii) cyanine 5 NHS (Cy5) dye, (iii) fourth generation (G4) dendrimers for multiple conjugation and (iv) glutathione (GSH) by chemical conjugation onto one side of Mg nanoparticle. The nanobots propelled efficiently not only in simulated biological media, but also in blood samples. With continuous motion upon exposure to water and the presence of Fe₃O₄ shell on Mg nanoparticle for magnetic guidance, the nanobot offers major improvements in sensitivity, efficiency and speed by greatly enhancing capture of cancer cells. The nanobots showed excellent cancer cell capture efficiency of almost 100% both in serum and whole blood, especially with MCF7 breast cancer cells.