Hybrid polymer-inorganic nanocomposites

Approaches to the preparation of organic–inorganic nanocomposites are considered from a unified viewpoint for the first time. The major problems in the development of this new line of research in materials technology, which has arisen on the border of the science of polymers, colloid chemistry and physical chemistry of the ultradisperse state, are discussed. The main methods for the formation of composite materials and polymer–inorganic cross-linked hybrids with interpenetrating networks are analysed. Primary attention is given to sol-gel procedures for their preparation, including template processes, which occur under conditions of strict stereochemical orientation of reactants, intercalation of monomers and polymers into porous and layered matrices and their intracrystalline and post-intercalation transformations. Methods for the synthesis and properties of metallopolymeric polymolecular Langmuir–Blodgett films, which are peculiar supramolecular ensembles incorporating nanosized metal-containing particles, are discussed. The generality of the processes of formation of organic–inorganic nanocomposites in living and nonliving natural objects is demonstrated and the major fields of application of nanocomposites are considered. The bibliography includes 566 references.