Molecular, Supramolecular and Macromolecular Engineering at Hybrid Mesoporous Interfaces - Choose Your Own Nanoarchitectonic Adventure

Abstract

Organic-inorganic hybrid materials are essential functional components for advanced applications in fields ranging from energy storage, biomaterials, bioelectronics, medical imaging, drug, release, tissue regeneration, food packaging, catalysis, or soft robotics. These materials can be tailor-made with an infinite number of architectures and in diverse physical forms depending on the requirements of their final application, adjusting conveniently the starting materials and the strategies of synthesis and functionalization. In this context, several research works have shown that the properties of the inorganic and the organic building blocks are combined, resulting in a new class of materials that exhibit improved performance. In this work, we will present and analyze examples from the literature that illustrate the different strategies to synthesize nanoarchitected hybrid mesoporous materials furnished with specific functions. We will show that the ability of developing orthogonal synthetic methods permits to reproducibly locate functional domains in pre-determined regions in space, either in bulk objects, colloids or thin films. An adequate harnessing of functional location and their intercommunication will permit to create autonomous nanosystems that sense their environment, adapt to external conditions, or are able to process signals in order to execute a pre-programmed task.