The Supramolecular Chemistry of Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Materials

Book excerpt: The combination of supramolecular chemistry, inorganic solids, and nanotechnology has already led to significant advances in many areas such as sensing, controlled motion, and delivery. By making possible an unprecedented tunability of the properties of nanomaterials, these techniques open up whole new areas of application for future supramolecular concepts. The Supramolecular Chemistry of Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Materials gathers current knowledge on the subject and provides an overview of the present state and upcoming challenges in this rapidly growing, highly cross- or interdisciplinary research field. The book details how these designed materials can improve existing materials or generate novel functional features such as chemical amplification, cooperative binding and signal enhancement that are difficult or not at all achievable by classical organic supramolecular chemistry. It also discusses issues related to nanofabrication or nanotechnology such as the directed and controlled assembly or disassembly, biomimetic functions and strategies, and the gating and switching of surface functions or morphology.