Functional Hybrid Materials

Functional Hybrid Materials consist of both organic and inorganic components, assembled for the purpose of generating desirable properties and functionalities. The aim is twofold: to bring out or enhance advantageous chemical, electrochemical, magnetic or electronic characteristics and at the same time to reduce or wholly suppress undesirable properties or effects. Another target is the creation of entirely new material behavior. The vast number of hybrid material components available has opened up a wide and diversified field of fascinating research. In this book, a team of highly renowned experts gives an in-depth overview, illustrating the superiority of well-designed hybrid materials and their potential applications.

<b>Pedro G&#243;mez-Romero</b> is a senior research scientist at the materials Science Institute of Barcelona (CSIC), Spain, where he leads a research group working on nanocomposites hybrid materials combining conducting polymers and oxides, clusters and active molecular species, developing energy storage and conversion applications such as duel cells, lithium batteries and supercapacitors. He obtained his B.S. and M.S. from the University of Valencia and his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Georgetown University, USA. He was a visiting scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory at Golden (Co, USA) during 1998 and 1999 as a NATO senior fellow. Popularizing science is Dr. G&#243;mez-Romero&#8217;s favorite creative activity outside the lab and, aside from his more than one hundred scientific publications, he has authored an award-winning book and many popular science articles.<br> He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, the materials Research Society, and the Electrochemical Society. <p> <b>Cl&#233;ment Sanchez</b> is Director of Research at the CNRS, heads the laboratory for condensed matter chemistry at University of Paris VI, and furthermore holds a professional teaching position at &#201;cole Polytechnique. He studied chemistry at ENSC Paris, received his Ph.D. from the University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, and held a post-doctoral position at UC Berkeley, USA.<br> His main scientific interest focus on the study of the relationship between the optical and mechanical properties and the structures of molecularly designed hybrid materials, and on self-assembly processes to build hybrid and inorganic materials organized and textured at different length scales ranging from nano to macro sizes. He is recipient of several awards from IBM, the Soci&#233;t&#233; Chimique de France and the French Academy of Science as well as the CNRD Silver Medal. He is editor-in-chief of the New journal of Chemistry and co-author of over 250 scientific publications. He has also given over 50 invited lectures at international meetings. <p>