Responsive and Programmable Hybrid Materials obtained from Self-Assembly of Nanobuilding Blocks.

G. J. A. A. SOLER ILLIA

Conferencia; 41ª Reunião Anual da Sociedade Brasileira de Química; 2018

Nowadays, our ability to develop chemical based procedures permits us to produce an enormousvariety of well-defined nanomaterials with highly controlled composition, size, shape and surfacefeatures. The rich field of nanochemistry, based in the reproducible production of nanobuilding blocks(NBB) with tunable properties, is one of the pillars of current nanotechnology. The combination ofNBB synthesis with self-assembly processes led to a significant advance in the production of morecomplex hybrid inorganic-organic materials with hierarchical structures and localized functions. Ourability to produce highly precise complex architectures with well-defined localized functions that caninteract with each other opens the path to create intelligent matter that can change their physical orchemical properties in response to the environment. Programmable nanosystems can be envisaged, inwhich confinement effects, responsivity, or collaborative functionality can be imparted into thestructure through the control of positional chemistry of different chemical building blocks.In this presentation, we will illustrate the richness of this emergent field by focusing in mesoporousmaterials (MM). Mesoporous architectures can be produced through the self-assembly of inorganicnanobuilding blocks in the presence of supramolecular templates. MM can then be decorated by smallmolecular species, biomolecules, polymers or nanospecies. An amazing variety of chemical behaviorscan be programmed into these structures, from tunable catalysis to light guiding or responsiveness toexternal stimuli. In addition to synthetic and characterization tools, theoretical models and simulationsare essential to understand the complexity of the synthesis paths and the final properties. This in-depthknowledge is key to evolve from materials synthesis to ultimate nanosystems design. We will presentexamples of tunable catalysts, enzyme cascade hosts, intelligent bioscaffolds, remotely activatednanoparticles, chemical-to-optical transducers or perm-selective membranes. A potentially infinitevariety of nanosystems with externally controllable behavior is at our disposal, opening the path todesign intelligent matter.