Handbook of Sol-Gel Science and Technology: Processing, Characterization and Applications by S. Sakka (Repost)

Volume 2, Characterization of Sol-Gel Materials and Products, highlights the important fact that useful materials are only produced when characterization is tied to processing. Furthermore, characterization is essential to the understanding of nanostructured materials, and sol-gel technology is a most important technology in this new field.

Since Dr. Disiich of Germany prepared a glass lens by the sol-gel method around 1970, sol-gel science and technology has continued to develop. Since then this field has seen remarkable technical developments as well as a broadening of the applications of sol-gel science and technology. There is a growing need for a comprehensive reference that treats both the fundamentals and the applications, and this is the aim of Handbook of Sol-Gel Science and Technology. The primary purpose of sol-gel science and technology is to produce materials, active and non-active including optical, electronic, chemical, sensor, bio- and structural materials. This means that sol-gel science and technology is related to all kinds of manufacturing industries. Thus Volume 1, Sol-Gel Processing, is devoted to general aspects of processing. Newly developed materials such as organic-inorganic hybrids, photonic crystals, ferroelectric coatings, photocatalysts will be covered. Topics in this volume include:

* Synthesis and reaction of sol-gel precursors,
* Preparation of bulk glass and ceramics,
* Processing of porous materials based on self-organization,
* Synthesis of organic-inorganic hybrid materials,
* Coating of plastics,
* Special processes used in sol-gel formation of materials (1. Non-hydrolytic sol-gel process, 2. Sonogels, and 3. UV irradiation).