Poly(vinyl alcohol) nanocomposites: Recent contributions to engineering and medicine

Poly(vinyl alcohol) is a water soluble hydrophilic synthetic polymer. As a matrix it can be mixed with fillers having nano dimensions to form polymer nanocomposites with interesting properties, different than those of PVA. From the chemical point of view nanofillers can be elements such as Au, Ag, Se, oxides such as CuO, SrO, TiO2, graphene oxide, minerals like hallosite, montmorillonite, tubes such as carbon nanotubes, hallosite nano tubes, etc. As presented in this review, some of the nanofillers are able to change and improve poly(vinyl alcohol)'s mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties, and can find uses in medicine. In the latter, due to the fact that poly(vinyl alcohol) is biocompatible, biodegradable, and bioabsorbant, it is possible to produce poly(vinyl alcohol) nanocomposites to be used like antibacterial, tissue engineering, drug carrier, wound dressing, etc. The present article retains the most recent (2019-2020) studies done on poly(vinyl alcohol) nanocomposites structure and contributions to engineering and medicine.