The Design of Inorganic Materials

It is useless to ask if design is an artistic activity or a scientific one the etymology of the word technology or techne (art) provides a sufficient response. 

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There is a branch of MS specially designed for dealing with the analysis of inorganic materials.[21,22] Different specific ionization techniques, such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS),[23] glow discharge mass spectrometry (GD-MS)[24] and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS),[25] are available and they are widely used in cultural heritage applications. Their description is beyond the scope of this chapter. 

The properties of filled materials are eritieally dependent on the interphase between the filler and the matrix polymer. The type of interphase depends on the character of the interaction which may be either a physical force or a chemical reaction. Both types of interaction contribute to the reinforcement of polymeric materials. Formation of chemical bonds in filled materials generates much of their physical properties. An interfacial bond improves interlaminar adhesion, delamination resistance, fatigue resistance, and corrosion resistance. These properties must be considered in the design of filled materials, composites, and in tailoring the properties of the final product. Other consequences of filler reactivity can be explained based on the properties of monodisperse inorganic materials having small particle sizes. The controlled shape, size and functional group distribution of these materials develop a controlled, ordered structure in the material. The filler surface acts as a template for interface formation which allows the reactivity of the filler surface to come into play. Here are examples ... 

Section 1 considers the methods of synthesis and physico-chemical properties of new types of inorganic sorbents (complex carbon-mineral sorbents, co-precipitated hydroxides, functional polysiloxane sorbents, porous glasses with controlled porosity, colloidal silicas, aluminium oxyhydroxide colloids, apatites). These sorbents are widely used in scientific investigations, in chemical practice and are important from a technological point of view. The presented results provide additional possibilities for the preparation of inorganic sorbents possessing unique adsorption and catalytic properties. Moreover, Section 1 presents the possibilities of the computational studies on the design of synthetic materials for selective adsorption of different substances. 

Given the implications of molecular level processing, the molecules-to-materials rationale has been successfully applied to various material compositions.However, the viability of precursor design with respect to material composition is rather vulnerable because the correlation between the starting entities and the final products is poorly understood. Nevertheless, recent chemical approaches have yielded materials designed to have predetermined structures, compositions, and properties, providing proof-of-principle for new concepts. Therefore, this chapter mainly focuses on the conceptual advancements in synthesis and application of molecular precursors in the preparation of inorganic materials. 

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