"Soft chemistry" methods for the production of inorganic or hybrid nanomaterials involve polycondensation reactions taking place at low temperatures (≈ 20°C-200°C), in aqueous or organic solvents, starting from molecular or nanoparticulate precursors. These "soft chemistry" conditions are exactly those under which many reactions in supramolecular or polymer chemistry are carried out. This makes it possible to "compatibilize", to effectively marry the world of polymers, rich in flexible and functional components, with the highly varied, robust and durable materials that make up the mineral world. This broad theme is attracting a great deal of interest from both academia and industry, and has already given rise to a number of applications and prototypes.
This set of lectures and seminars has been dedicated to describing and discussing these particularly productive areas, as well as new fields arising from the synergy brought about by conceptual exchanges and collaborations between the various communities involved.
The approaches and concepts used by the polymer, coordination and materials chemistry communities were presented in the first three lectures and seminars. The fields of inorganic networks obtained via hydrolytic or non-hydrolytic polycondensation reactions, coordination polymers and organic polymers provided the conceptual basis for understanding the research developed at the interface of the different chemistry communities.
The following three lessons and seminars have highlighted the synergies and new developments, the new continents that chemists must set out to explore. They concern :
- the wide variety of functional assemblies resulting from the coupling of sol-gel and polymer chemistry;
- the use of extraordinary supramolecular templates to develop anisotropic structures that cause solvents to gel. These structures can be used as supramolecular molds to create anisotropic and functional mineral or hybrid replicas;
- the development of "self-healing" materials, in which bio-inspired hybrid materials appear to be the most promising.
To conclude this preamble, I would say that these lessons clearly demonstrate that the study of organo-mineral or bio-mineral interfaces, their modeling and controlled use represent an essential research theme for the development of original nano-structured materials.