Sol-Gel Gateway

	Toward molecular design of oxide precursors for advanced materials by Liliane G. Hubert-Pfalzgraf Chemical routes to materials are based on transformations in solution such as sol-gel processing, hydro or solvo thermal syntheses, Metal Organic Decomposition (MOD), or in the vapour phase chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Most chemical routes rely on the availability of appropriate “metal-organic” molecules as precursors. Among the various precursors of metal oxides namely metal b-diketonates and metal carboxylates, metal alkoxides are the most versatile. They are available for nearly all elements and cost-effective synthesis from cheap feedstoks have been developed for some. Professor Liliane G. Hubert-Pfalzgraf make the point. >> More
	Smart Optical Materials by Sol-Gel Method Professor Renata Reisfeld and his research team from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have investigated for more than a decade sol-gel derived optical materials. She give us today an overview of a broad palette of such materials, investigated by her group, and potentially useful for sensors, lasers, solar energy concentrators, variable transmission windows, and light amplifiers.
	Glass from Aerogels... 25 years ago by Michel Prassas 25 years ago, glass scientists were intensively looking for low temperature processing routes for making glass. The discovery that monolithic gels can be transformed in glassy materials at half the conventional melting temperature, became a useless reality with extraordinary implications. The topic drained a great number of researchers from a variety of disciplines and open the window of what commonly call today the sol-gel process. An open and versatile chemical processing route to a variety of inorganic and organic-inorganic materials with nanotailored structures and properties.
	What are hybrids ? by Prof. Clement Sanchez An incredible amount of research investigations have appeared the last 10 years in the field of hybrids materials indicating the growing interest of chemists, physicists and materials researchers to fully exploit this technical opportunity for creating materials and device with benefits of the best of the two worlds namely inorganic and organic...
	SOL-GEL: A low temperature process for materials of the new millennium by Prof. J. Phalippou A short introduction to the Sol-Gel methods and the ways to obtain materials for a variety of applications
	YVO4:Ln (Ln= Eu, Nd) luminescent nanoparticles By Arnaud Huignard, Thierry Gacoin and Jean-Pierre Boilot An intensive research effort is directed the last years towards the development of stable quantum dots with high luminescent properties for applications in displays, optical telecommunications systems, lasers and biological luminescent probes. Sol-Gel synthetic routes, widely used in this field, allows size control, narrow size distributions, and surface chemistry engineering of the synthesized nanoparticles. The solid state chemistry group of "Ecole Polythechnique" in France has recently developed a way to manufacture high luminescent Ln:YVO4 nanoparticles with quantum yields approaching 40 %. Film nanocomposites prepared either by spin or dip techniques shows under UV excitation a bright red luminescence .
	Luminescence properties optimization of Pr in CatiO3 (pdf file)- A Power point presentation by P.T. Diallo, P.Boutinaud, R. Mahiou, J.C. Cousseins
	Morphology and thermal conductivity of model organic aerogels by Anthony P. Roberts Aerogels are a promising material for a wide range of applications due to their thermal, optical and mechanical properties. For example, aerogels are among the best thermal insulating solid materials known. It is important to link aerogel properties to their complex internal microstructure, and to understand how such properties can be optimized for a given application..
	Influence of OH groups on the spectral characteristics of Eu doped Sol-Gel hybrids (pdf file) - A Power point presentation by A.C. Franville, D. Zambon, R. Mahiou
	COATINGS: An Introduction to the cleaning procedures by Dr W. Birch Substrate cleaning, is as important as the chemistry of the precursor sol-gel solution used to make the films. This tutorial provides useful information and practical advice for best cleaning operations previous to any deposition process.
	Rare -earth doped transparent nanoparticulate glass-ceramics by M. Mortier, M. Génotelle, G. Patriarche
	Vanadium dioxide as infrared active coating by G. Guzman
	Wet Coating Technologies for Glass by H. Schmidt and M. Mennig One advantage of wet coating techniques is, that molecular structures developed by chemical synthesis can be used to develop new properties, or to develop new desired molecular structures by heat-treatment and subsequent chemical reaction on the surface. After introducing the advantages of wet coating technologies the authors describe the different wet coating techniques including, dip, spin silk screen, roll coating, laminar flow...
	Optical anisotropy of silica gels doped with magnetic nanoparticles by D. Jamon, J. J. Rousseau, H. Roux, V. Cabuil Magnetic nanoparticles orientation can be fixed if the gels are prepared under magnetic field. Permanent birefringent optical plates can easily be prepared this way with tailored properties. Presentation given at the French "Nanoparticles" workshop
	Low temperature synthesis of Zircon by sol-gel process by P. Leture M. Prassas, A. Lecomte and A. Dauger Manufacturing of ultra-fine powders has become of great interest in ceramic technologies. Zircon phase which has an excellent chemical durability and refractoriness is not easily obtained at low temperatures even starting with stoechiometric compositions. Sol-gel processing allows Zircon nanopowder to be formed at temperature lower than 1000°C