Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is one of the most promising elastomers due its remarkable pro-prieties such as good thermal stability, biocompatibility corrosion resistance, flexibility, low cost, ease of use, chemically inertia, hyperplastic characteristics, and gas permeability. Thus, it can be used in areas like microfluidic systems, biomedical devices, electronic components, membranes for filtering and pervaporation, sensors and coatings. Although pure PDMS has low mechanical properties, such as low modulus of elasticity and strength, it can be improved by mixing the PDMS with other polymers and by adding particles or reinforcements. Fiber-reinforced PDMS has proved to be a good alternative to manufacture flexible displays, batteries, wearable devices, tac-tile sensors, and energy harvesting systems. PDMS and particulates are often used in the sepa-ration of liquids from wastewater by means of porosity followed by hydrophobicity. Waxes as beeswax and paraffin have proved to be materials capable of improving properties such as hy-drophobic, corrosion resistance, thermal and optical properties of PDMS. Finally, blended with polymers such as poly (vinyl chloride-co-vinyl acetate), PDMS became a highly efficient alterna-tive for separation membrane applications. However, to the best of our knowledge there are few works dedicated to the review and comparison of different PDMS composites. Hence, this review will be focused in PDMS composites, their respective applications, and properties. Generally, it will be discussed the combination of elastomer with fibers, particles, waxes, polymers, and others; aiming to be a review able to demonstrate the wide applications of this material and how tailored characteristics can be reached for custom applications.
This research was partially funded by the Portuguese national funds of FCT/MCTES
(PIDDAC) through the base funding from the following research units: UIDB/00690/2020 (CIMO),
UIDB/04077/2020 (MEtRICs) and UIDB/00532/2020 (CEFT). The authors are also grateful for
the funding of ANI and CIMO through the projects POCI-01-02B7-FEDER-069844 and CMFPE3-
EXPL2021CIMO_01, respectively. The authors also acknowledge partial financial support from the
project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-030171 (PTDC/EMD-EMD/30171/2017) funded by the NORTE 2020
Portugal Regional Operational Programme, under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement,
through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) and by Fundaçao para a Ciencia e
Tecnologia (FCT).
