Hybrid polymers can be defined as those polymer compositions which consist of two or more very different materials, including one or more polymers and often inorganic materials such as metals, ceramic or organic materials. Inorganic materials are often nanoclays and carbon nanotubes (CNT) but can be various metals and their derivatives (Copper, Erbium, Germanium, Iron, Lithium, Neodymium, Nickel, Praseodymium, Silver, Titanium, and Zinc among others), ceramics, silicon carbide, silicon, low melting glass (P-glass). Specific organic additives are also used (eg, Phenol-red dye; Rhodamine6G, Thymol-blue dye). Intrinsic hybrid polymers are block copolymers, mineral backbones with organic pendant groups or even copolymers with hard segments arranged in hard domains distributed in a soft matrix. Extrinsic hybrid polymers consist of nanofillers such as nanoclays dispersed in the plastic matrix or hybrid films made of a polymer film and an inorganic coating, or made of two or more layers of two or more different polymers. Often one of the materials is added at a lower level to develop a high surface/weight ratio to enhance mechanical properties. Hybrid polymers can be associated to fast, efficient and cheap methods of generating innovative products or innovative manufacturing methods. They open the door to unique properties unusual for polymers such as electrical conductivity, gas barrier effect, and optical properties. The versatility of hybrid polymers leads to a number of applications concerning a multitude of industrial sectors: Electricity and Electronic • Conducting polymers • Semiconducting polymers • Batteries • Membranes • Solar cells • Gas-diffusible hybrid polymer (GDHP) films • P-LED (Polymer Light Emitting Diodes) • Flexible displays • Capacitors, transistors, wave guide modulators, switches • Electroluminescent devices • Piezoelectric systems • Hybrid polymer for integrated optical and opto-electronic devices Barrier coatings • Oxygen barrier • Carbon dioxide barrier • Migration barrier Active coatings • Scratch-resistant coating • Protective coating • Controlled wetting behaviour • Antistatic coating Optical applications • Mass data storage • Antireflective coatings • Glass coloration • Antifogging Smart polymers • Chemical sensors active, for instance, versus SO2, CO2 or hydrocarbons • Physical sensors • Biosensors • Electrochromic systems • Colour changing plastics The success of hybrid polymers is based on special and often unusual characteristics combined with easy and cheap processing methods, leading to dramatic cost savings versus equivalent devices based on silicon technology. Among the various suitable forms of hybrid polymers, the multilayer films with multiple possible arrangements and ease of fabrication open the door to a multitude of applications. Continuous multilayer film processing methods, high speed injection, coating techniques, compounding, and mass-produced printed technology lead to far lower costs than semiconductor technology. (Source Courtsey: SpecialChem)