Hybrid Materials (Organic-Inorganic)

C. SANCHEZ; G.J.A.A. SOLER-ILLIA

Encyclopaedia of Chemical Processing

Dekker Encyclopedias

Año: 2005; p. 1267 - 1279

Hybrid inorganicorganic materials can be broadly defined as synthetic materials with organic and inorganic components, intimately mixed, either homogenous systems derived from monomers and miscible organic and inorganic components or heterogenous and phase-separated systems where at least one of the components domains has a dimension ranging from some angstroms to several nanometers. Hybrid nanocomposites had an explosive development since the 1980s, with the expansion of soft inorganic chemistry processes.(1-4(1), (2), (3), (4)) The mild synthetic conditions provided by the solgel process such as metallo-organic precursors, low processing temperatures and the versatility of the colloidal state allow for the mixing of the organic and inorganic components at the nanometer scale in virtually any ratio. These features, and the advancement of organo-metallic chemistry, and polymer and solgel processing, permit a high degree of control over both composition and structure (including nanostructure) of these materials, which present tunable structureproperty relationships. This, in turn, permits tailoring and fine tuning of properties (mechanical, optical, electronic, thermal, chemical) in very broad ranges, and designing of specific systems for applications. Hybrid materials can be processed as gels, monoliths, thin films, fibers, particles, or powders. The seemingly unlimited variety, unique structureproperty control, and the compositional and shaping flexibility give these materials a high potential for applications.