A review on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes as a new multipurpose nanohybrid additive for poly(lactic acid) and poly(lactic acid) hybrid composites

The production of petroleum-based polymers in huge amounts is perilous for our ecosystem and oil reserves. The use of biodegradable polymers instead of synthetic polymers for various commodity, engineering, and biomedical applications remains the overriding concern of the researchers in last decades. Although poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is considered to be the most befitting substitute for conventional petroleum-based products because of its superlative mechanical properties, material & processing cost, and non-toxicity, they have some consequential limitations for various applications because of their slow rate of crystallization, low thermal stability, high brittleness, and low toughness. To overwhelm these deficiencies during the last two decades, researchers have developed various techniques to tailor the properties of PLA, that is, blending with other polymers or using additives such as nanofillers. Among all the nanofillers, for example, carbon nanotubes and organoclays, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) was found the most promising nanofiller because of its organic and inorganic nanostructure and fine dispersion into PLA matrix. This article reviews all the investigations relevant to POSS incorporation into PLA or blends of PLA with other polymers to compare the mechanical, morphological, and physical properties of the ameliorated composites and the neat PLA