Sols, gels, networks and inorganic-organic hybrid materials

Definitions of terms relating to the structure and processing of sols, gels, networks and inorganic-organic hybrid materials (lUPAC Recommendations 2007), Pure Appl. Chem. 79, 1801-1829 (2007). Reprinted as Chapter 11, this edition. 

Definitions of terms relating to the structure and processing of sols, gels, networks and inorganic-organic hybrid materials... 

Definitions of Terms Relating to the Structure and Processing of Sols, Gels, Networks and Inorganic-Organic Hybrid Materials (2007), 211... 

To meet the challenges of new material requirements, scientists must strive constantly to develop new systems. One recent approach has been to prepare inorganic-organic hybrid materials by using the sol-gel method common to ceramists. This technique allows a considerable range of chemistry to be used and may lead to the development of a whole array of systems that have potential applications (structural, optical, etc.). This chapter provides an overview of the general status of this approach, with emphasis on the work that comes from our laboratory. The chemistry discussed in this chapter involves the use of silicon-containing species in the preparation of polymeric network systems. 

Thus the sol-gel methodology is an alternative to classical thermodynamic routes for the synthesis of solids. It is also evident that the preparation of the solids through Chimie Douce bridges molecular chemistry and solid state chemistry. This chapter will be focused on material prepared by the sol-gel process, where an organic part is associated with a silica or siloxane Si—O—Si network. Two types of organic-inorganic hybrid materials can be prepared by the sol-gel process and are completely different the nanocomposites and the nanostructured hybrid materials6-9. 

Dynamic self-assembly of supramolecular systems prepared under thermodynamic control may in principle be connected to a kinetically controlled sol-gel process in order to extract and select the interpenetrated hybrid networks. Such dynamic convergence between supramolecular self-assembly and inorganic sol— gel processes, which synergistically communicate, leads to higher self-organized hybrid materials with increased micrometric scales. 

Wilkes, G. L. Brennan, A. B. Huang, H.-H. Rodrigues, D. Wang, B., The Synthesis, Structure, and Property Behavior of Inorganic-Organic Hybrid Network Materials Prepared by the Sol-Gel Process. In Polymer-Based Molecular Composites, Schaefer, D. W. Mark, J. E., Eds. Materials Research Society Pittsburgh, PA, 1990 Vol. 171, pp 15-29. 

IR spectroscopy provides also information on the structural and compositional properties ofhybrid organic/inorganic sol-gel networks. Hybrid sol-gel materials, for example. 

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