Mechanically flexible and visibly transparent polymer-based nanocomposites for UV-protective applications

Mechanically flexible and optically clear UV shielding materials have garnered significant scientific interest, owing to the increasing exposure of both the living and material world to high-energy UV radiation. Further, an ideal mechanically flexible UV shielding material must present steep absorption in the UV region and near negligible absorbance in the visible region. Although such optical behaviors may be presented by organic material-loaded polymers, they often suffer from photo-bleaching effects associated with lesser photo-stabilities. Consequently, the scientific community started exploring various inorganic filler loaded polymers, especially fillers in the nanometric size, for UV protective applications. The introduced nanofiller brings about appreciable UV endurance via the considerate dissipation of high-energy UV photons while the polymer takes up the processability role. Thus, this chapter covers various factors associated with the filler, polymer, and composite that may decide the success of developing mechanically flexible and visibly transparent polymer-based UV-shielding materials.