Survey over the state of the art in the field of processing of inorganic-organic composite materials

Abstract

Inorganic-organic composite materials by sol-gel processing have gained more and more interest during the past ten years. The sol-gel process allows to incorporate organic compounds or groupings of very different chemical nature. They range from isolated organic molecules like dyes to groupings linked to the inorganic backbone and oligomeric or polymeric organic chains. Synthesis chemistry defines to a great deal structure and properties, since thermal rearrangement after preparation is the exception due to the thermal stability of the inorganic backbone and the limited thermal stability of the organics. Interesting applications are under development in the field of photonic materials, protective coatings, electronic materials, reinforced polymers and elastomers. The field can be considered as one of the most interesting sol-gel areas.