Chapter 14 - Greener synthesis and applications of hybrid sol–gel-processed materials

Abstract

The development and progress of organic-inorganic hybrid (OIH) materials, in a wide range of applications, attracted significant attention over the past few decades. OIH materials show new and improved properties, when compared to conventional ones, due to the combination of organic and inorganic precursors. Furthermore, OIH and can be easily obtained by sol–gel route at mild synthesis conditions. The combination of organic polymers and inorganic materials in a single-phase provides exceptional possibilities to tailor different properties such as optical, electrical and mechanical. The huge development and success of OIH materials is tightly linked to the synthesis process and to the large variety of chemical precursors available. Nevertheless, the settlement of defined OIH materials requires a basic understanding of the fundamental sol–gel chemistry as well as of the parameters that influence the processing techniques. The aim of this chapter is to review the fundamentals of the well-known sol–gel route to produce OIH materials. The state of the art of the main research achievements on the development of innovative OIH materials, in the different fields, will also be debated. Nonetheless, due to the huge number of publications in the field, a systematic selection of the most relevant contributions was implemented in order to provide the best picture of the consolidated know-how in this area.